As you all know, we are on a program to get Jack to eat healthier and also eat a larger variety of food.
When I picked him up from school today he happily said, "Mommy I have chocolate AND a lollipop!" and Mrs. Flatt, his teacher, said "Yep, they are really treated out today!"
The whole way to lunch he begs me to eat these things. I say no, we are about to eat lunch.
I took him to the Pizza Inn buffet before gymnastics. So, first I got him some stuff from the salad bar that he eats (cheese, pineapple, honeydew). He tasted each on his own and then did his classic move where he brings his shirt up to cover his mouth and said that each one was "yucky."
On my second trip to the buffet, I got him some plain noodles, which he will usually eat, and a breadstick. He ate most of both of those but said he didn't want more and was still hungry. Though we were at a pizza buffet, he doesn't like pizza at all and I decided not to press it.
On my third trip to the buffet, I got him some club crackers and some saltines. He loved these and asked for more.
While I am finishing my pizza he asks to taste this piece of chocolate chip pizza, and I reluctantly agree even though I have already told him we could walk to Checkers and get a chocolate shake to waste the rest of the time.
He tastes the chocolate chip pizza but doesn't like it.
We walk over and get the milkshakes, which I know he loves. As we are walking back to the car he says to me, "Gosh mommy, you are just ALWAYS trying to give me all this junk food, and it is just not healthy for me."
Sure I am, Little monster :-)
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Brother Factor
At Chick-Fil-A
Jack (frantically looking around the table): Mommy, where is SAM?
Me: In the playground [this is about five feet away but through a glass wall]
Jack: By HIMSELF?
Me: Yes.
Jack (Looking at his food longingly, then back at me): Well can I please go keep him safe for a little bit?
Me: Sure buddy.
Lucky little guy, that Sam Mike.
Jack (frantically looking around the table): Mommy, where is SAM?
Me: In the playground [this is about five feet away but through a glass wall]
Jack: By HIMSELF?
Me: Yes.
Jack (Looking at his food longingly, then back at me): Well can I please go keep him safe for a little bit?
Me: Sure buddy.
Lucky little guy, that Sam Mike.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
The case of the pillow case
What do you think happened to this pillow case?a. I washed it so much it started to unravel on the sides
b. It got tangled on the washing machine agitator and thus frayed
c. Jack cut it with his "snissors" and I just didn't notice til after I washed it and put it back on his pillow?
After school, I presented him with the evidence. "Jack, did you cut this pillow case with scissors?"
"No mommy."
"Jack, I am not angry. Tell me the truth."
"The truth is no, mommy." Door closed.
-two minutes elapses-
Door opens.
"Mommy, I like the pillow this way."
"So, JJ, did you do that to the pillow?"
"DON'T BE ANGRY!!!!!!!!! I like it like this?"
"I'm not angry (totally even voice, don't care at all). I just want you to tell me."
"I cut that with snissors, mommy."
Wow, so surprised.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Feeding Time
Jack doesn't eat too well. It is another one of those typical complaints about toddlers. With Jack, we have never been through one stage that people talk about being problematic and then just got of easy there. Like, it isn't like potty training him wasn't that bad, or like he was always calm, or he slept well as a baby, or wasn't an aggressive two year old. Every stage with him is a battle, and that is just his personality. So, the eating thing has been long standing around here. He won't eat any meat of any kind or any vegetables. He has a specific set of things he eats in rotation and eats most of the same things day in and day out. While this isn't necessarily unheard of for his age, it drives us nuts and we keep saying we are going to do something about it.
We have tried before. A few weeks after Keith came home from Afghanistan, so like last year about this time, we decided he'd eat with us or he wouldn't eat. For three nights in Okinawa we made him eat what we ate. All three nights he threw up. We made all the mistakes then that I don't plan on making now, like almost physically forcing things into his mouth. By that point he was so worked up that puking was almost inevitable.
Lately, Jack has chilled out a little. It was bound to happen eventually, we only had to wait 53 short months for it. When we moved to Charleston we decided that we had to also nip in the bud the whole sleeping outside our door thing. We spent about a week making him sleep in his room and now it is pretty much solved (OK FINE he does still come sleep on our floor almost nightly but not til almost 4 am, and who cares at that hour anyway??). We put him to sleep, he goes to sleep, we can do what we need to do in the evening. Light years better than tiptoeing around him. We had already said that we wanted to get him to try to eat a little more normally too, so we decided it was about that time.
This morning we made up a chart with stickers and a rule chart for dinner and went over all of it with him. Right before dinner we went over it again. You aren't getting separate food from us. We are all eating the same thing for dinner. You can't call anything yucky. You don't have to like any of it but you have to taste it all. The sticker system is that he gets one for not whining or having a fit and another one if he tastes everything. He is REALLY into the sticker thing right now from school anyhow so I knew he'd like that. Rewards have always been motivating for that little tyke.
Alright, Dinner. I was almost sweating. We cooked some Korean rice dish, so we didn't even start of with something cheating like sandwiches or chicken nuggets. He eats rice, so I thought that was at least a small provision. We gave him rice, a tiny bit of the pork and onion in sauce mixture, and a piece of blueberry banana bread. Even sitting down he is in a remarkably good mood even though he seems to understand he has to eat this food that would have elicited a fit any other time I can think of.
He eats the bread and loves it (easy peasy). He eats the rice and makes a mess (no shock). He asks for regular chocolate (chocolate milk). We give it too him holding our breaths and determined not to pressure him about it. I say nothing. Keith cuts him a piece of onion and encourages him to eat it. He frowns and puts it in his mouth and swallows it, drinks the milk. Umm, WHAT?
Next, the pork. He thinks it is chicken, we don't correct him. He isn't happy about eating it at all, is hemming and hawing. I ask to be excused as incentive and leave for a minute then come back. We try to just hang out without making it obvious what we are waiting for as we know that will make it worse. He still isn't really complaining more than a general "I'm not hungry anymore. Really mommy. I don't want dessert."
We stick to our guns. Taste everything.
Maybe 5 minutes pass. Possibly 10.
He eats a (small) piece of pork. He doesn't gag. He drinks the milk.
"We are so proud of you buddy."
"Can I have my stickers please?"
Alright. Who is this kid and where is ours? Maybe I just love four.
We have tried before. A few weeks after Keith came home from Afghanistan, so like last year about this time, we decided he'd eat with us or he wouldn't eat. For three nights in Okinawa we made him eat what we ate. All three nights he threw up. We made all the mistakes then that I don't plan on making now, like almost physically forcing things into his mouth. By that point he was so worked up that puking was almost inevitable.
Lately, Jack has chilled out a little. It was bound to happen eventually, we only had to wait 53 short months for it. When we moved to Charleston we decided that we had to also nip in the bud the whole sleeping outside our door thing. We spent about a week making him sleep in his room and now it is pretty much solved (OK FINE he does still come sleep on our floor almost nightly but not til almost 4 am, and who cares at that hour anyway??). We put him to sleep, he goes to sleep, we can do what we need to do in the evening. Light years better than tiptoeing around him. We had already said that we wanted to get him to try to eat a little more normally too, so we decided it was about that time.
This morning we made up a chart with stickers and a rule chart for dinner and went over all of it with him. Right before dinner we went over it again. You aren't getting separate food from us. We are all eating the same thing for dinner. You can't call anything yucky. You don't have to like any of it but you have to taste it all. The sticker system is that he gets one for not whining or having a fit and another one if he tastes everything. He is REALLY into the sticker thing right now from school anyhow so I knew he'd like that. Rewards have always been motivating for that little tyke.
Alright, Dinner. I was almost sweating. We cooked some Korean rice dish, so we didn't even start of with something cheating like sandwiches or chicken nuggets. He eats rice, so I thought that was at least a small provision. We gave him rice, a tiny bit of the pork and onion in sauce mixture, and a piece of blueberry banana bread. Even sitting down he is in a remarkably good mood even though he seems to understand he has to eat this food that would have elicited a fit any other time I can think of.
He eats the bread and loves it (easy peasy). He eats the rice and makes a mess (no shock). He asks for regular chocolate (chocolate milk). We give it too him holding our breaths and determined not to pressure him about it. I say nothing. Keith cuts him a piece of onion and encourages him to eat it. He frowns and puts it in his mouth and swallows it, drinks the milk. Umm, WHAT?
Next, the pork. He thinks it is chicken, we don't correct him. He isn't happy about eating it at all, is hemming and hawing. I ask to be excused as incentive and leave for a minute then come back. We try to just hang out without making it obvious what we are waiting for as we know that will make it worse. He still isn't really complaining more than a general "I'm not hungry anymore. Really mommy. I don't want dessert."
We stick to our guns. Taste everything.
Maybe 5 minutes pass. Possibly 10.
He eats a (small) piece of pork. He doesn't gag. He drinks the milk.
"We are so proud of you buddy."
"Can I have my stickers please?"
Alright. Who is this kid and where is ours? Maybe I just love four.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Keep Out
Our Jack has always been fairly tolerant of his brother's shenanigans, especially for being four. Sam pretty much worships him, and he not only deals well with it, he actually enjoys his brother a lot too. They play a lot just the two of them, and Jack will beg me to wake Sam up from a nap sometimes, or if he is eating say "Mom, I really think Sam is done now and wants to play with me." They fight over "stuff" a lot, you know, the usual. This is my toy, that was mine, I was sitting there, but I want to hold that. Really though, I still feel blessed to be on this side of sibling rivalry for now. The other day, though, Jack must have had enough, because while Sam was asleep he wrote a lot of signs and then posted them up around the house. He said that the one on the wall of the playroom said "Stop" and when Sam saw it he couldn't come in. He said the one on his kitchen said "Stay Away." I told him gently that Sam wasn't going to understand, but I still thought they were novel attempts at getting some peace around here from the human tornado.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The Hair we Lost
In case you missed it, we got Sam's Haircut. It was really sad. Here are some pics of how beautiful it was :-) Hard to really see his hair, but I needed a tribute. The new hair is acutally growing on us a bit.
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