May I present the following two pictures:
Doesn't this one look like either she's about to kick some butt or pitch a baseball? Funny thing is, neither explains this look. She loves balls (insert joke here), and she walks around the house with them. One in each hand usually. And now that she's imitating Mommy carrying a purse, she'll put several into a little purse and carry them around in the purse. My MIL happened to catch the Monster with a ball in her hand and one of those classic "WTF?" looks. The drool running down the chin really completes the look, don't you think?
Wow. She's chewing on a stool. We keep my laptop on the kitchen island with a stool pulled up to it. We use this stool regularly, and almost always rest a foot or two on the rungs. And apparently The Monster chews on them. Great. The thought of the germs makes me absolutely sick, but I'm sure this isn't the worst thing she has put in her mouth.
This picture on the other hand may illustrate our struggle with table food. At the Monster's one year appointment with her pediatrician, the doctor issued some mandates. First - take away the pacifier by Christmas. (We did it by Thanksgiving, thankyouverymuch.) Second - transition her to a sippy cup by Christmas. (Again, we did it by Thanksgiving, and she actually uses a straw cup most of the time. Wow - maybe I'm not as big of a parenting failure as I thought.) Third - get this child off of baby food! The doctor offered some suggestions - like making a chicken stew with pureed chicken, rice, and diced veggies. Or making egg whites in the morning. She still won't eat egg whites, but the chicken stew thing worked out great - after about a month of offering it every single day. This child is picky. She definitely does not get that from me - I'll eat anything other than day old lunch meat. (I was traumatized as a child by funky lunch meat in the fridge - I'll spare you the details - but to this day, I will not eat lunch meat that has been opened for more than a day, even if sealed up in a ziplock. For real.)
I realize that toddlers are picky eaters. But seriously, I wonder if the doctor is going to scold me at her 15 month appointment because The Monster only drinks milk and eats applesauce, yogurt, and peas. And wooden stool rungs. In all seriousness, I hope she hasn't dropped a weight curve. Her diet is seriously lacking in balance. For Christmas, my mom bought me two different cookbooks on feeding toddlers. I've only tried one or two recipes so far. Honestly, I'm partially lazy, partially really busy, and I'm partially afraid I'll mess the recipe up and scar her for life. I guess it's time to get off my duff. If we could get her off a pacifier and a bottle during Screamfest 2008, then I'm sure I can get this child to eat a chicken nugget.
In other news, I'd like to report a few cute things my child does now. She loves to blow kisses. So cute. She also likes to pull pillows off of the sofa or bed and then lay down on them. Precious. She also says, "Ilikethat!" as fast as is humanly possible. And she dances now. She's one year old and already she's a better dancer than me. Sad. In college, I was always one of those people who would hang out on the perimeter of the dance floor at the various local college bars hoping someone would ask me to dance, but then being embarrassed when I looked like a freak doing so. Big D says that he looks like "a dry heave set to music." Haha!
In other news, today I have the day off and I took the Monster to school. And I don't feel guilty about it at all. Mama needs a break! I have a HUGE to-do list, but I'm sure I'll only do one or two things before surrendering to the couch to watch 5 episodes of Top Chef saved on my Tivo. And I'm not embarrassed to say that I have 3 episodes of 90210 to watch as well. I like a little brain candy.
I'm also cooking up a storm. I'm making a recipe for crispy cinnamon garbanzo beans I saw in a magazine. If it works out well, I'll post the recipe. I'm also going to cook up some red beans and rice and some spaghetti sauce with turkey so I can freeze several batches and have some for weeknight meals.
In other words, I've got stuff to do, so I'd better stop blogging!
2 comments:
Ha Ha! Ask my parents about their frustration with a picky eater (me). I sustained life off of hamburger meat and peas for months on end and I turned out just fine. :) Wanna hear something even more crazy? My dad fed me until I was 5. I refused to eat otherwise. Every.single.night at the dinner table. Then my sister came along and ruined that setup. :P
All kids are picky eaters so don't you worry. Mine won't even touch a single vegetable unless she is around her cousins who eat them. One suggestion would be to find out what other kids in her class eat, and pack something similar. It may be enough for the Monster to see that other kids are eating the food.
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