Hug Twice

A long long time ago, I said that when I have children, they wouldn’t be picky.  I have no tolerance for picky.  You’ll eat what we eat, or you’ll go hungry, and that’s that.

And then I had CJ.  CJ, from the very first moment he was born, was extremely picky about food. At first, he was displeased with the idea of nursing.  He would literally rather scream himself to sleep than nurse.  After he started losing weight at an alarming rate, we got a pump, and I pumped and fed him with a bottle for the first month.  Then he decided nursing was okay, and bottles were the incarnate of evil.  Honestly, he would rather literally starve himself than deviate from the plan in his head.

This is the point I realized that nothing was ever going to go according to my plan.

At about 7 months he started solid food.  At first it went okay.  And then we tried apples.  Apples he hated with every fiber of his being.  In fact, he would not only scream and spit them out, but if pushed he would literally make himself vomit rather than eat them.  At 7 months old.  And it wasn’t limited to apples.  We kept trying different foods, and some were happily accepted, some were tolerated, and most fruit (save prunes which he adored) were spit out and gagged on if offered again.

Fast forward 4 years.  CJ is still incredibly picky, and still gags on food he finds unacceptable. Someday, at some point, we’ll push the issue, but for now, I know he has a real problem with foods he doesn’t like, more than I am comfortable pushing him.  The biggest problem for us is that he still eats about zero fruit.  Veggies I can hide in things and he doesn’t know he’s eating them, but past fruit and grain cereal bars, actual fruit doesn’t really come close to him.

Until now.

A month ago CJ was responsible for snack that week at school.  The school always asks us to bring a specific thing on Fridays, and he was supposed to bring bananas.  I made a HUGE deal about the bananas with him - how fun bananas are, how exciting it is that he is bringing them, and by the time Friday came he was really psyched about the bananas.

And when he came home from school, they sent a note saying he ate a few tiny bites of a banana!  Hurrah!

And he’s repeated that here.  He will ask for a banana, and eat 3-6 tiny tiny bites of one.  Which is a start.  Until yesterday.  Yesterday he ate about half a banana, and normal-sized bites to boot.  And this morning, with breakfast, he ate an entire banana.

:cheer:

Too bad bananas are one of the few things I seriously cannot stand.  I love most any fruit *except* bananas.  Just my luck. 

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I have been holding this back for a few days, wanting to be sure, and it may all go wrong still, who knows.

But I think CJ is actually now an independent toilet user, otherwise known as potty trained.

He must really like candy corn for this to have all finally worked out. 

No accidents in at least 3 days, uses the toilet on his own initiative with no prompting from us (although we still sometimes prompt, we are nervous) and acts like it is totally just what he does.

So far, so good.  :crosses fingers:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I talked to an old friend on the phone this afternoon.  I know she reads this blog (and all the blogs) so I will wave and say hi.  :wave: 

It was funny, because I haven’t talked to her in several years, and yet it seemed like no time at all had passed.  I was transported back in my head to college and before the kids took over my life, but at the same time I was the grownup I’d become and not the kid I was back then.

I think it is because even though I picture myself as who I am now, I pictured her in my head as the same exact person she was back then.  So I was in the present and the past simultaneously.

My brain is a very odd place.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Alexa was sitting in my lap, and looked up at me and said, very distinctly, “I love you.”

And grabbed my head and kissed me.

Then, announced “All done.”  and got off my lap and wandered off.

Hopefully, not all done loving me. 

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

CJ has a Wall-E video game that we let him play on certain occasions.  Lately, it has been reserved for when he poops on the toilet.  Hey, I was once above bribery.  Now my kid is four and still isn’t quite potty trained.  I conceded. 

Anyhow, a few days ago he was playing it, and got stuck on a certain part.  After trying it several times, he handed the controller to me and said “Mommy, I’m frustrated with this Wall-E game.  I need a break.” and went out into the kitchen for a snack.

I couldn’t have been prouder.  I beamed from ear to ear all day.

We have these bath toys that have different faces on them and are each labeled with an emotion.  He made the exact face of the frustrated one, down to his shoulder posture, when he said it, so i know where he learned that word.  Good job, Daddy who gives him a bath every night!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!