Dinner Drama

A man’s real possession is his memory.  In nothing else is he rich, in nothing else is he poor.
-Alexander Smith
One day I will find it hard to believe that this is really what it is like.  So for my memory’s sake, I am documenting
Being honest here…..Meal time is not my favorite time of the day.  It’s just that growing boys like to eat so I am forced to supply them with food and water or milk.

Remember when I tried to get them to like broccoli?  Fail
They do eat carrots, cucumbers and have tried most veggies.  Bless him, Jackson will make the most awful face and choke down veggies and say, “ummm” even as he gags a little.  I love that boy!
Meal times are still a struggle because although we have gotten the boys to eat normal kid food, those boys like to run and play rather than sit and eat politely.
With Allen’s work schedule, we can’t always eat dinner as a family, so I sit with them and try to hold conversations and Allen joins in when he gets home from work.
Is it normal for them to get up a gazillion times from the table?  Is it normal for me to want to bang my head on the table most evenings, as I remind them over and over to do the same things I have been reminding them to do each and every night?


Yes, sometimes they do eat cereal for dinner.  I have a rule that I made up.  “If it is good enough for breakfast, it is good enough for dinner!”  Do you like it?  Usually if I make them Breakfast for Dinner I fix them eggs and grits, or as Jackson says, “greggs”.
They have also found the pleasure and infinite comedy in burping.  It is hard to reprimand that.  Sometimes I want to give them a high five and shout, “That was awesome!”.  Other times I’d like to bang my head on the table.
There may be some people who can remember me burping once or twice in my life time and say I am getting my just desserts.  I can assure you that those people have emotional issues and early onset Alzheimer's!!  Plus I never did it at the table.
Like Dory says, “Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming….”

The Very Hungry Toddler

I love Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar.  If you’ve been living under a rock…the caterpillar eats through all these foods and then goes into a cocoon and turns into a beautiful caterpillar.
Miller decided to recreate the story in his own Miller way.
When am I ever going to learn, if he’s quiet…

He’s making a mess!
Yep, that container was full when I started my laundry.

An Update

Since I’m sure that everyone has been on the edge of their seats wondering…
The boys are doing really well with their eating.  By that I mean, I can make them eat normal kid food.  Pizza, chicken tenders, hotdogs, french fries and the like.  Usually they don’t even cry anymore!  Something interesting that they have tried and liked was Spaghetti carbonara. 
Since the broccoli debacle, I haven’t had the heart to try it again, but I will try it again.  At this point I am just trying to get them to eat like normal kids.  I’ll tackle a little more as we go along.
Part of my plan is to keep them swimming all the time and use their hunger to get them to eat things they wouldn’t normally eat.  Sorry I forgot to bring the goldfish to the pool today, but I did bring some cucumbers!  Insert evil laugh!  It should result in some massive meltdowns!
 

update and randomness

because i’m tired i’m not capitalizing.  i may never capitalize again-ever.
almost 2 weeks ago my mom got sick and was admitted to the hospital.  she’s still there.  she’s getting better, finally, but still in the hospital.
i flew to see her.  i loved on her.  she liked that!

thankfully i came to two happy boys.  thanks allen for being such a great husband and father.  we had a great helper named norma.  so nice to know my babies were well cared for and i could focus on mom.
then when i came back, jackson is swimming.  really swimming.  like jumping off the side of the pool trying to do a flip.  now if i can just get him to pick his head up and breathe.  so excited to see what happens this summer!

not one to be left out, miller is sticking his face under and kicking too.  it all has to be done on his terms, but he is making big progress.  he is climbing into the pool on his own and cruising along the side.  scaring the daylights out of me, but i know he’s going to be a fish in the blink of an eye.

nope those pictures have nothing to do with the pool, but the boys are jumping in them.  did i promise you randomness?
pretty sunsets are always something that make me happy.  they also remind me of my mom.  she loves a good sunset!


and because i know inquiring minds want to know…
the boys have been eating great.  some meats, some veggies.  finally progress!  two and a half years later i am seeing some progress.

On eating better

Everywhere you turn there are studies with data and such that extol the benefits of eating healthy.

Over the past few weeks I have been making sure that the boys have a protein, vegetable and fruit with their dinner.  Sounds simple enough.  The thing is that if your kids don’t eat, say chicken it makes it really easy to be lazy and give them cheese and peanut butter instead.  Easier for me, easier for them.

The problem is that easy isn’t really cutting it in terms of  nutrition.

Being willing to fight the fight is half the battle.  As I have said before, when I was a teacher it would have been unthinkable to let someone else’s kids do the things my kids do with food.  I am willing to fight the fight.

Planning has also been a hang up, I wasn’t putting enough thought into what they boys ate.  It was time for dinner and I just pulled out whatever fruits and dairy they hadn’t already had so far that day—that they were willing to eat.  If I was ambitious I made pasta and topped it with cheese.

Really it only takes 15 minutes to prepare kids food.  The key is having a good variety around.  That being said, I don’t anticipate changing their palettes over night, but getting a good variety of “kid food” would be a major improvement.  We can work on brussels sprouts next month!

It was going pretty well.  Eggs are easy, carrots have been pretty well received, cucumbers as well.  Jackson choked down a chicken finger, Miller ate it them somewhat willingly.  Fish sticks were eaten well with both boys.  Things are going pretty well.  I had some broccoli in the fridge that needed eating so I thought I’d give it a go.  I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Warning, don’t go any further if you have a weak stomach or are put off by my children being tortured.

First bite

 

Do you think he likes it?

Note the amount of butter that is left on his fork.

Showing his new muscles he got from eating the single bite of broccoli!

Then it was Miller’s turn…

 

Also note the amount of butter left on the fork.

Out it comes.

 

Why did she make me put it back in my mouth???

I think he’ll have to try it a few more times!

 

Then I tried to get J to eat a bite and just swallow it with some milk.

That was unsuccessful.

 

I am willing to fight the fight.  But I also know when I am beat!

Broccoli may have beat me on this one, but I am still fighting the fight, though.  We might wait a little while on broccoli again.  I’m thinking zucchini next!

pasketti

Miller had his first experience with spaghetti. Guess what? He loved it!
Why do I worry? He eats trash from the trash can. Don't laugh--today he took an old sponge out of the trash and chewed a piece of it off!
Some babies tear up toilet paper for fun. Miller tears it off for a snack!

Here he is after his first taste of spaghetti!


Love that face!

Here is Jackson after spaghetti night. Guess why he has none on his face?

YUM

Can you believe that it is already time for Miller to start solids? I can't, but it is! We started with Oatmeal cereal and it was a big hit! Miller loved it! He liked it so much that he kept trying to help me put the spoon in his mouth. He ate so well that he took a nice long nap afterwards. Last night I gave him cereal again at 7:30 and he slept until 4. He had been backsliding in the sleep department and was waking up every three to four hours, so now I'm looking forward to getting some longer stretches of sleep again!



Look how he is grabbing that spoon and trying to feed himself!



Hank is the sweetest dog! He is so patient and docile.

The Food Revolution

From the day he was born we have had difficulty getting Jackson to eat. First it was breastfeeding, so we switched him to formula. Solid Gold formula to be exact. The stuff cost about $8 a day! We begged, pleaded and cried to get him to take the stuff. He eventualy gained enough weight to make the 30th percentile. Then he graduated to real food and we had a relatively easy time. He was pretty good with baby food and we could get him to eat pureed fruits and veggies. We did that for way too long. I thought that pureed veggies were better than no veggies. So he got that until he was almost 2.
As Jackson approached 2 it became apparent that we needed to take control of the situation. So I fazed out purees and fazed in canned cubed fruits and veggies. He took to he fruits, not veggies, though! Hmmm, he outsmarted me on that one.
Several weeks ago I was watching John and Kate Plus 8 and she says that all her kids eat most all food. She encouraged viewers to keep putting healthy foods on their kids' plates and one day they might pick them up and eat the healthy things. "Ok, sure," I thought.
That got me thinking. When I worked with disadvantaged kids they would eat everything that was put in front of them. Literally, they put food in their pockets to take it home to eat later. Those kids were hungry and they didn't care if it was nasty cafeteria food. That revelation made me realize that I had created a picky eater. This is just as much my doing as his. At his two year check up he was almost 30 pounds, which puts him into the 50th percentile. He is an average sized child...thanks to graham crackers!
In addition to this I was tired of having food thrown. Am I crazy to allow a toddler to throw food and then beg him to eat more? YES! I am an Early Childhood professional and there ain't no way I would ever allow someone else's child to do this.
All of this brought me to The Food Revolution. I decided that I am going to feed Jackson several healthy foods at each meal and he can eat it or not. I always include something he likes. If he throws a piece of food, he gets a warning, the next piece that gets thrown means the meal is over. Period!
The first few days were great. I must have timed it at a growth spurt. He ate most of what was given to him and only a little food got thrown. Obviously, I thought, this is easy. Now I have realized that true revolutions take time. And revolutions are hard! Sometimes you unknowingly lose ground.
As an educator I know that doing the right thing for kids is often a struggle but it doesn't make it any less worthwhile. As a mom I hate seeing my child go "HUNGWEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" because he threw the food that was placed in front of him. As a frugal mom I hate throwing away food that is perfectly good. But you can only reheat food so many times before it lose what little alure it had before. I know that this is the right thing to do.
My hope is that one day Jackson eats like a normal child. I'm prepared to hold my ground. I have to!
I have lots of cute pictures of Jackson eating food. It makes it look like he is a good healthy eater. This is just an illusion. I hope you enjoy them!