JENNIFER LIPPMAN

I never thought much about Cheerios until I became a mom.  But now, I’m a slave to the big yellow box.  And I’m not the only one.  I bet most of you are carrying a baggie of the suckers somewhere on you right now.

At first, I didn’t believe the other mothers when they said Cheerios were “healthy”.  Then my pediatrician recommended them as a first chewable food to offer at around 8 months and I started to question my pediatrician.  Turns out, they were all correct.  Cheerios are not fruit loops without the food coloring.  They are little whole grain oat circles with 1 gram of sugar.  1 gram! 

Most sugar cereals had around 10-15 grams of sugar per serving.  I learned that from reading it on the side of my Apple Jacks when I was bored at the breakfast table.  Frosted Flakes have 11 grams, Frosted Mini Wheats 12, a newer cereal that calls itself Smart Start Healthy Heart has 17 grams.  Life cereal and Go Lean each have 6 which is better than 17 but still too high.   I figured Cheerios would have at least 6 or 7 so I was delighted when I read the side of the box.

see Cheerio on middle finger

Cheerios have become a staple.  At two years old, she still asks for them daily.  Almost every morning begins with, “I want Cheerios, Mommy.”  And she means straight up, no milk.  She likes them in a snack baggie.  I try to keep one by the side of my bed to avoid getting up and pouring every morning at 6am.  

Her baggie of Cheerios also keep her happy while I drive around the city doing errands.  Which brings us to that fateful day when I ran out while driving and had no backup baggies.  Daniella began a major Cheerio-less meltdown and the closest market was Whole Foods. 

So here I am in the Whole Foods cereal aisle, carrying my 25 pound toddler, seeing that Whole Foods does not carry Cheerios.  Not even Multi-Grain Cheerios (which, by the way, have 6 grams of sugar).  I search the shelves and find that Whole Foods does not make a generic, organic version of Cheerios either.  Shocking.  Finally, I spot the only whole grain oat cereal in stock which is called Annie’s Bunny Love with Bunnies, Hugs, and Kisses (the hugs and kisses are X’s and O’s).  I grab them and check the side of the box.  Two grams of sugar.  Bingo.  What’s an extra gram?  They’d be fine for a day until I could get a box of the real stuff.

I clicked her into the car seat and handed her a full baggie.  She polished them off quickly and asked for more.  As we drove home, I popped one in my mouth out of curiosity.  By the time I pulled into the driveway, I had finished the box.  It was a small box, but still.

Her father took her out for breakfast the next morning while I went to replenish the Cheerio supply.  I casually looked to see if they carried the bunnies.  They didn’t. 

That afternoon, on our way to Target, I hand her a fresh new baggie of Cheerios.  After two bites she stops and looks at me.  “No.  The other Cheerios.”  Oh no.  I feign ignorance, “What other Cheerios?  These are the only Cheerios”, but she’s onto me. 

Complete meltdown.  Much longer and louder than usual.  I don’t usually cave in, but for some reason I find myself turning around and racing to Whole Foods.  I fill her bag with Bunny Love and all is right in the world.  Except that Bunnies cost a million times more than Cheerios and they come in a tiny box and you can only buy them at Whole Foods.  I couldn’t let this happen.  I wasn’t going to stand by and watch a healthy, stable two-year relationship erased in the blink of an eye by a single extra gram of sugar. 

After much trial and error, I started mixing the boxes together.  It works.  She eats both now, mixed together, with no issues.  For some unknown reason, she calls the combination "Cheerios and O's."  Now every morning begins with "I want Cheerios and O's, Mommy."  If at any time I give her straight Cheerios, she says, “Where’s the O’s?”  This is months now we’re talking about. 

Here’s how I see it.  The entire O situation has only helped prepare me for the future.  I can never go back to those innocent Cheerios years but I am grateful to have had them at all.  I can only look forward and accept that cereal, like life, is going to become more complex as my daughter grows.  And that’s not such a bad thing.