Last month MMan was sick. Really sick. During the illness and recovery, he lost weight that he didn't have to lose to begin with. So, as his appetite has slowly returned, I happily let him eat just about anything he picks. Especially since there's not a lot of junk in the house right now.
The last few days his choice of what's in the fridge has been peanut butter. Sometimes fruit makesva good vehicle to get the PB in the mouth, and sometimes, the spoon works better. Whatever it takes to keep him above the 5% curve for weight!
This month I have been thrown from the meal-planning-super-organized-grocery-shopping train right into a snow bank. We've been eating a lot of meals I had stashed in the freezer and when I went grocery shopping I found a couple of impulse items in my cart-like a really discounted turkey.
So, today I cooked the turkey, invited some friends over and had an-almost-Thanksgiving dinner in January. Yum!
In other parts of the house, yesterday GGirl went to her room and decided that she was going to have guitar lessons. HandyMan gives lessons to GGirl's BFF/Sitter which GGirl has participated in and observed. So she wanted the headset hooked up to her CD player so she could hear her music and have a guitar lesson. Rock on little girl!
MMan is working his way through the rainbow of fruits and vegetables. We started him on solid food around Thanksgiving when he was about five and a half months old. So far he's eaten apple, banana, peaches, pear, peas, sweet potato, carrot, rutabega, and butternut and acorn squashes just as fast as we can shovel them in.
For a lot of reasons, I make our baby food. Knowing that we would be starting MMan on food when fresh fruit is scarce I canned some fruits this summer with baby food in mind. I think he knows the routine because his face lights up when I start running the mini-food processor.
For GGirl this is usually a loud proclamation followed by the expectation of food magically appearing in front of her. Instantly. This afternoon she issued the complaint and when I didn't redpond in 5 nanoseconds she tried to make off with the bag of marshmallows that were on the counter from an earlier hot cocoa treat. I quickly intercepted the bag of mini-sugar bombs and told her that if she was hungry she could have a carrot. I thought she was not really hungry and just after the sugar. 3 seconds later she comes up with a HUGE carrot: "Mommy, will you please wash this so I can eat it?" So I washed the carrot and handed it over, fully expecting her to take three bites and be full. Nope. She ate the whole thing! Just more proof of kids defying our expectations. Guess I may need to raise the bar!
Lunches at our house are pretty relaxed and usually leftovers. Very often the conversation will go something like it did today.
Me: What do you want for lunch.
GGirl: Quesadilla!
Me: Ok, get out the cheese. [Then offers choice of whatever fruit or veggie we have around]
GGirl: [Usually picks fruit]
Eat. Eat. Eat.
GGirl: Mom, I'm still hungry.
(Here's where the negotiations begin)
Me: What are you hungry for?
GGirl: Cereal.
Me: Um, no. If you're still hungry you may have veggies.
Out comes the bin of veggie sticks. She either picks veggies or isn't really hungry.
She was recently introduced to Ants on a Log (aka: celery, peanut butter, and ants as she calls them). Today, that was the veggie of choice and she lined up the "ants" herself.
I find that if she makes the choices some of the time, there is less struggle when the choice is not hers to make. Works for me!
After stating multiple times at lunch that G had to eat her soup before she could get bread, E upped the ante and told her that she needed to eat her soup before he ate all the bread. A couple of bites later she brought her bowl around the table to me, which is customary for getting help with her last bites of food. Seeing a half full bowl of soup I told G that she wasn't download to her last bites yet. In all seriousness she told me "I need help to eat faster" and the fear that Daddy was going to eat all the bread was evident in her worried little face. Once we quit laughing, I assured her that there would be plenty if bread for her too!
