Small Victories

Today my family celebrated my son’s seventh birthday. As is the tradition in our household, he got to choose his favorite birthday dinner, as well as the type of cake and the flavor of ice cream we had. After changing his mind about 6 times, including twice today, the birthday boy wanted his daddy to grill his famous (at least in our household!!) hamburgers. Mmm-they were delicious! Probably not the healthiest dinner, even though we used low fat beef. The dessert for the celebration is what I dread about every birthday around here. I have a serious sweet tooth, and where there are treats in the house I have a hard time staying away. Which is why I try not to bring them in except for special occasions.My sweet boy had picked a yellow cake mix with cream cheese frosting (Oh no! One of my favorite combos!) and he picked Mint Chocolate Chip and Moosetracks ice cream. (Shoot! These ones are my absolute favorites!)

I have to admit, I was so proud of myself for sticking to one burger at dinner (I’m telling you, these suckers are good!) and filling up on watermelon instead of the Doritos. And then, when it came time for dessert, I took a small slice of cake and 2 small scoops of Mint Chip. I am trying to live out the mantra “everything in moderation.” How freeing to be satisfied with a small portion! I considered overindulging, but knew I would feel sick as well as guilty later if I did. I also considered skipping dessert altogether, but knew I would feel deprived and crave it later tonight. So I opted to have a small portion celebrate my son’s birthday without regret.

As I am writing this, I am realizing that this is the first birthday celebration in nearly 10 years that I haven’t felt stuffed or guilty from the amount of cake and ice cream I had consumed. Yay! What a victory. Small changes. Daily changes. Life changes.