Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
We’ve got a walker. This is a tough stage. Haley is not yet confident enough to take off on her own, though with a little more patience and concentration, she could. She wants to go, go, go all the time, and you have to take her! Either she’ll “creep”—moving around by grabbing onto furniture, or she expects to use your hands for support. She’s not content to sit in her jumper or hang out in her playpen for very long. If I let her, I think she would keep moving all day with no breaks. She’s quite the explorer!

The last time Haley was weighed, I noticed that she had only gained four ounces in five weeks. This is the slowest growth since she’s had since she was born. According to my girlfriend, this is age-appropriate and the same was true for her kids, but I find it disconcerting. It seems nearly impossible for her to gain much weight given the current conditions. She eats decently well—three solids meals (purees and some “adult” food, too!) and has four to five nursings a day—but she is always burning up the calories! The mealtimes when she sits in her high chair are some of the few moments each day she’s not moving. Sometimes she even wanders around while taking a bite here and there! Energy in, energy out.

I look forward to Haley’s next check-up when I can see if she’s gained much more and ask the doctor about it all. And I am also anxious to reach a stage at which she’s a little more independent in her movements. How funny that I thought it was challenging when she was unable to move and was mostly just nursing and napping. At least then, I could sit with her, and maybe watch a little TV. The requirement to always be with her physically, yet constantly moving, is a whole new ballgame! I don’t know what the next chapter will hold, but hopefully it will be somewhat less physically exhausting.

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
As a military family, home is where the Navy sends us. As you know, at the moment home is Mississippi. We enjoy the slow pace of southern living and we have made great friends. Unfortunately, Mississippi is statistically the fattest state in the US.  Sadly, it has been for six years. Nearly 35% of the population is obese. My husband complains because there are more fast food options in our town than actual restaurants, and I complain because there is no reliable source for fresh produce. We shop at Super-Walmart because there is no Farmer’s Market, Whole Foods, Albertsons, Publix or other options. Our family eats as well as we can with the ingredients we have. We really have to work to keep our family healthy.

I was not surprised to hear that Paula Deen had been diagnosed with type two diabetes. I am sure she does not exist solely on the rich comfort foods she prepares. We have even made some of her recipes occasionally. My husband even made a fried turkey on Christmas. My problem is not with Paula Deen. My problem is with the parents who send their elementary age child to our pool with an entire large pizza for lunch and a two liter bottle of Pepsi. I am amazed by the things parents feed their children around here. We try to moderate the amount of junk our kids eat, but some of Jack’s classmates seem to exist on sugar and processed foods. We are not crazy food nuts by any means, but the amount of childhood obesity here is disturbing.

The best thing we can do is expose our kids to healthy food options.  Also, making them aware of the effects that come with unhealthy eating habits will hopefully minimize their junk food consumption.  I must admit, Jack is a very picky eater, so it gets challenging.  We try our best to exercise as much as possible.  Running around the backyard or playing at the park is usually a daily activity.  I hope as parents we will make an impact on our children’s decision making.

From Friday Mom – Jaime:
No, we didn’t cave on the Christmas lights. Our house is still 100% twinkle light free.

Yes, we are still bribing our son to sleep in his room at night. We are met with moderate success, depending on Andrew’s desire for whatever he has designated as his chosen reward. Movie the next day? NO PROBLEM. A request to Bob the Bed Fairy for a car? Eh… “I got lotsa cars already!”

Sometimes I do feel a little badly about the bribery thing. But it works… And I need my beauty sleep.

Andrew still only wants to eat mac and cheese. He could eat it all the time, every day. We started telling him he can’t have macaroni unless he tries to eat something new beforehand. This too is met with only moderate success. On the plus side, he does eventually try things and Andrew now loves dried cranberries as much as I do and actually asks for them as a snack. However, last night, he got so upset about having to try ravioli that he threw up as soon as he put one in his mouth…

We took Andrew ice skating last weekend. None of us met with any severe bodily injury. Just some very cold fingers.. since we all forgot gloves. (oops) Andrew thought it was AWESOME to climb off the ice into the penalty box. He thought it was SO cool that he started doing a mean booty shake to the music blasting from the loudspeaker.

If you’re wondering what to buy the boy for the holidays or his birthday, we’re very into puzzles these days. Anything less than 25 pieces is a waste – he can assemble those puzzles in less than a minute. We know this for a fact. He made us time him… (We are also still firmly obsessed with cars, superheroes and the little miss and mister books – though grammy has cornered the market in buying him those!)

I am completely in denial over the fact that Andrew is going to be 4 in a couple weeks. How did the past 4 years fly by so fast????

Have a great weekend everyone

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
I read in one of those parenting books (You know the ones, they imply that everything about a child growing up is totally predictable, and make you out-of-your-mind worried when your child’s behavior doesn’t correspond?) that around 4 months, a baby can be on a regular sleeping/feeding/playtime schedule.

Haley is only 3 months old, but she has been sleeping in 9-hour stretches for the last month. I’m not meaning to boast here— it’s a statement of fact. It’s dumb luck. Some babies start sleeping through the night at 8 weeks as if a switch goes off. That’s what it was like for Haley. Besides, it won’t last. Anyhow since she did begin to sleep through the night relatively early, I thought I should get on the scheduling train early to see if she’d be receptive. To put it simply, she’s not.

The first step to setting up a schedule is to observe the natural patterns your baby is following. That was my main goal for last week. Here’s what I observed. During the weekend, when Dad is around, your attempts to put the baby down at specific times are futile. Since Dad is at the office all week, any idea for something fun to do with Haley (Let’s go for a walk by the waterfront! Let’s play with this new toy!) must be done right away. I give in to this, so it’s my own fault!

Even during the week, it’s not so simple. I can’t tell you the number of times I have started to type into my nifty spreadsheet something like, “down for nap, 3 PM” only to hear a frantic cry before I can finish the entry. Plus, it’s hard to feed a person predictably when said person wants to eat for maybe four minutes, stare at something absolutely amazing like a ceiling fan, fall asleep, and wake up fifteen minutes later demanding more food.

So the Great Scheduling Experiment, Phase I has failed. This is okay. Naps are hard. Breastfeeding is nearly constant at certain times of the day. If I’m being honest, putting things in order is as much for my own Type A neuroses as it is for Haley’s benefit. Luckily, I rarely feel annoyed and I enjoy all of the ups and downs, whether I was expecting them or not. Together, we are embracing the chaos.

From Friday Mom – Jaime:
The thing about having a limited diet, is you get sick of food pretty fast. If I  listened to everything all the various doctors told me NOT to eat, my diet would be limited to lettuce and meat. Maybe, every so often, some carbs thrown in there for good measure.

But I’m old enough to understand that if I don’t eat fruit, sweet vegetables, carbs, dairy, salt, sugar, caffeine or alcohol, that’s pretty boring. I also
know that if I exist on salad alone, within a week (and that’s giving me a whole lot of willpower credit), I’m going to scream if I see another lettuce leaf.

But try explaining THAT one to a three year old.

My kid used to be an awesome eater. He’d chow down on anything you put in front of him. Except green beans and those little jars of pureed meat that smell and look like dog food… Then one day he woke up and decided most foods were “ick.”

His diet has a few main staples: mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, pancakes, pizza and mini hot dogs. Last month, he decided pizza was “grossey” and hasn’t eaten it since. He turns his nose up at pancakes. Stomps his feet at chicken.

But at least we had good old macaroni to fall back on. Til last week. Now he doesn’t want that either. He’s tired of these foods and is pretty apprehensive about trying new stuff.

Yesterday, he was eyeing another kid’s cheese ravioli with great interest. I brought three different kinds of ravioli last night and sent it into school with him. I was hopeful he’d try it, but part of me knew unless that kid was sitting next to Andrew eating raviolis that looked exactly like Andrew’s, he wasn’t likely to even try them.

This is one of the few times I’m sorry to say I was right.

We do try to get him to try new stuff. But if he doesn’t want to try it, he’s never going to. (See… product of two stubborn lawyers.)

Anyone got any brilliant (or not so brilliant ideas) how to get this boy to try new things?

From Monday Mom – Melissa
Brady has never been the best eater, but he has always eaten a healthy variety of things. At 4 (and a half – don’t forget that, or he will have a meltdown), his variety is slim pickings. I often wonder if this is a normal 4-year-old behavior or if it is a control issue. He does have some extenuating circumstances that he can’t control (divorce). It has gotten so bad that he won’t even eat most pizza or Wendy’s chicken nuggets!! I used to be able to get him a $2 meal there (chicken, fries, and a cup of ice water). Oh well, we still have Burger King’s value menu when we are in a pinch. He has ONE brand of mashed potatoes he will eat (and they aren’t his mama’s homemade ones). He has specific chicken seasoning, types of fries, etc..

I have basically told Brady that he isn’t required to finish his meals. However, if he chooses not to eat his meal (or at least most of it), he is not allowed any snacks or food until the next mealtime. I have often saved his meals in the fridge, and he can have them reheated to eat later (this option has never gone well – not once)!! I do try to offer him a variety with meals (grilled chicken, peas, and a baked potato – for example). So then there is at least something that he likes. And typically he will try some of the other stuff. But then again, I always try for one item that I know he will like.

Waiting this stage out seems to be my only option at this point. His snacks are only healthy, unless he finished his entire meal (veggies and all). So sometimes that does happen. Ironically, he does eat healthy with the few foods he eats. For example, his favorite lunch is tuna fish and watermelon. His favorite snacks include bananas, yogurt, and pretzels. So all in all in could be worse. Thankfully he eats healthy food. But boy, is this picky stage frustrating as a mom (and cook)!

Today Andrew’s class did a “taste testing.” They were learning the difference between sweet and sour. For sweet, they all gobbled down slices of apple. It was a food most of them knew and they welcomed the familiar taste.

For sour? They tried lemon. Some kids chomped down bravely on the strange yellow fruit. Some loved it so much they begged for more.

And then there’s my son. He tentatively smelled the lemon. Then stuck out his tongue and very carefully liked it. The look on his face was PRICELESS. It was that “HOW COULD YOU TELL ME TO PUT THIS IN MY MOUTH!” look. They took a picture of his cute little face all screwed up in a grimace at the smallest lick at the evil little lemon slice.

He doesn’t have to like everything. But it’s important that he tries new things. We’re just having a little trouble getting him to experiment.

It made me think of a book I just finished reading – Emily Franklin’s Too Many Cooks: Kitchen Adventures with 1 Mom, 4 Kids, and 102 Recipes. Awesome read, by the way, but I’m not really here to plug the book… She tells lots of stories about trying to get her kids to eat new foods. Some were abysmal failures. Some were amazing successes.

But they were willing to try it.

Maybe her experiment worked because her kids were a bit older than Andrew. Or maybe my kid is just way more stubborn that hers.

I guess the only answer is to keep throwing new things in front of him and hope that eventually he’s willing to try it.

If you ask any child (except for the extremely healthy ones) if they prefer cookies or carrots I think we all know what the answer will be.. cookies, of course.  Jack would jump up out of his seat to answer that question.  Why is it so hard to get our kids to eat healthy fruits and vegetables at meal time?

I can remember when I started feeding Jack “real” food he would eat ANYTHING.  I thought to myself that this was going to be a breeze and I wouldn’t have to have those battles my parents had with me at the dinner table.

Well, apparently I thought wrong.  Over time Jack has become pretty picky with what he will eat and not eat.  Almost all veggies are out except for one or two, and he is now starting to dislike fruits that I knew were a guaranteed hit.  He would rather snack all day and not eat anything at meal time.  I’m sure this is similar for other kids, too.  I have tried sneaking in veggies by chopping them up very fine and mixing them in with pizza, sauces, pancakes,etc.  However, most of the time he can tell the difference between my “secret “recipes and the real ones.

I read an article stating that taste buds in kids and babies are located not only on their tongue, but on the sides and roof of their mouth.  As they grow, the taste buds begin to disappear from the sides and roof of their mouth, leaving taste buds mostly on their tongue. As they get older, their taste buds will become even less sensitive, so they will be more likely to eat foods that they thought were too strong as a child.  I know this holds true for myself.  I disliked veggies when I was little and now I love most of them although, I still can’t bite into a tomato.

I’m looking forward to the day Jack says.. “nummy” to the taste of grilled veggies!

When he first got into eating, as opposed to drinking his meals, Andrew was a great eater. He would eagerly chow down on everything. Fruit, veggies, cereal, yogurt. He would eat everything. Well, except green beans and the little jars of pureed meat that look and smell like dog food. But I really can’t blame him for not wanting to eat that. I could barely stand the smell of the stuff!

It seems that the older Andrew has gotten, the more picky he is with what he is willing to consume. Slowly, all the old favorites have fallen off the “approved” list. Strawberries? Blueberries? Grapes? No, no and a most emphatic NO.

Mac and cheese seems to be a fairly constant standby. We have tried sneaking a little bit of vegetable in there or some chicken. But he’s too smart for that trick.

We have tried to give him a buffet of all his old favorites. Forget it. This little guy is not going to eat ANYTHING unless he wants to eat it and it’s his idea.

It’s not all that unusual for us to suggest he have a banana as a snack and have Andrew turn up his nose at the idea, only to have him request a banana 30 seconds later.

If you ask the doctor about the picky eating, you get told it’s “normal” and to “keep trying.” Parents are offered insights like “toddlers do this kind of thing. They’ll do nothing but eat yogurt for months and then they refuse to touch it for just as long.” My favorite one was when the doctor told us “some days he’ll eat nonstop and other days he might eat one good meal and just pick at the others.” (Of course, this was actually a great comfort at the time because we were getting worried because Andrew had just started doing exactly what the doctor described).

So much of parenting is a learning experience – for the kids and us. I always find it helpful – and a relief – to know when other people encounter the same things. If dinner night at your house these days always consists of chocolate chip muffins or chicken nuggets (or whatever the food may be), how do you try to introduce other foods onto the menu?

Have a great weekend everyone and bon appetit.