Madi "spills the juice"

On Tuesday I went grocery shopping and bought some V8 VEGETABLE juice and I can honestly say, I have never bought nor tried the stuff before. Prior to Tuesday, I have been buying the V8 Berry V-Fusion for several weeks, which is a mixture of fruits and vegetables. Pretty good stuff. In fact, I like it so much I recommend it to those of you needing more fruits and vegetables in your diet.

So, in my zest to eat better, I have been buying V8 Berry V-Fusion but I had a dollar off coupon, (I will have to talk about coupons on another day) for the V8 VEGETABLE juice. I figured they would taste pretty similar and since I liked the V8 Berry drink, I bought the V8 vegetable juice using my sweet, dollar off coupon! Pretty clever, eh?

Well, for lunch the next day I gave both girls cups of this thick orange-red stuff with their sandwiches. I went about my business cleaning up the kitchen and doing the last of the dishes while quietly watching them to see their reaction. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Madi take a drink and immediately thought, “Yessssss!” (like Kip, from Napoleon Dynamite). I was feeling like a pretty good mom at this point, (which is rare) feeding my kids’ good healthy food.

However, a few minutes later as I was busy making my own sandwich, Madi starts whispering, almost chanting to herself. At first, I didn't know what she was saying; as it was so soft, but as I listened closer this is what I heard:

“Oh no. I am not going to drink THAT anymore.... no..... I just can't drink THAT....anymore...Oh no…"

My first thought was, that is so funny! But why is she saying that? I am sure it tastes good. Should I ask her why she is saying that or just ignore it and tell her to drink her juice anyway?

She continued to whisper these chants to herself. After about a minute or so of quietly listening to her obvious unexpected agony over this V8 drink; that just kept getting more and more intense with each chant, almost as if she was doomed for sudden despair. "I'm not going to drink THAT....Oh no."

I tried acting like everything was fine, because at that moment I notice Avery picking up her cup to take a drink. But before I get to rejoice in my sneaky pursuit to give my girls, “juice” I am robbed, because as fast as she tastes it, she puts it down even faster. She then slides her cup across the table to get IT as far away from her as possible, like IT was some contagious disease. Oh and that look! The look on her face said it all. Pure disgust.

My initial thought, It can't really be THAT bad? …..Can it?

I decided to ask Madi.

"Madi, do you like your juice?”

To which she replied, “No. I don’t want that kind of juice. It’s yucky.”

Right away, almost as if I was a prosecutor trying to convince a jury of a crime, or maybe it was just the Newman side of me coming out, I tried persuading and challenging Madi that no, this is really good juice. I used every angle in my argument; it’s good for your body. It has antioxidants. It’s healthy. It gives you one serving of vegetables a day…blah, blah, blah….

Seriously. Like I could really persuade a four year old to drink something using arguments about the great benefits of vegetables??

So I tried another approach.

“Look. Mommy, is going drink some of this yummy juice too!” (Happy Face)

I went over and opened the cupboard and grabbed myself a BIG cup to prove…well, I don’t know, that I was going to drink A LOT? I proceeded to pour myself a whole cup full of “THAT” juice. Because of course as moms, we know everything that is good for us (Heavy sarcasm). How bad could it be? I looked over at Madi and Avery to make sure they were watching their “brave” (yeah, right. That’s why I made them try it first!) mom, before I plunged into the thick, slimy, orange-red substance.

Those that know me, know that I have thrown up a couple hundred times, during each pregnancy. I HATE throwing up. Who does, really?? Yet, after drinking “THAT” I wish…no, I was dying to throw it back up! (Why is it when you don’t want to throw up- you do, and when you want to, you can’t?)

I am sure my face resembled that of Avery’s. Pure Disgust. It was Yucky, just as Madi said.

I tried to not show my sudden agony though and casually tried spitting into the sink when I thought no one was watching. I felt so bad for wanting and making my kids drink “THAT” that I immediately threw it out and replaced it with apple juice.

To sum it up best, like the priest on Nacho, “this is the worst lunch [drink] I ever had.”