I'm done too.

My toddler is almost two.

end blog

Enough said right? No, but seriously. Libby is 21 months old and has reached a beloved phase of neophobia. The fear of new foods . . . I'm not some amazing person who just whipped that one out of her glorious vocabulary (sometimes I cheat on words with friends . . . ). In fact I just learned it today.

My mother sent me a link to an article about just this, and how to deal with meal times for toddlers.

It was helpful and encouraging, because I'm already doing a lot of what it suggested. It was very informative though, and right now I could just use some relating . . .

Last night I went to dinner guns loaded (for various reasons, but) mostly in anticipation of Libby refusing beef and veggie stew. (Which was delicious, thanks gram!) Her food was separated by type on her plate, because she doesn't really do mixed items well. She ate a few pieces and then suddenly I was being bumped by a plate that was being handed back to me. "Ah done" . . . No, no, no. You are not done.
The two days before this it had been discovered that if she was given a sandwich (dinner put in between two pieces of bread) she would eat it. So I attempted

halfheartedly attempted . . .

See I sit between the table and window in our kitchen. To my left is a high chair, to my right is my husband . . . there is always something (multiple) I forgot to get before trapping myself. Trapped is dramatic. I could slide the high chair out of my way, go around my dad, and get what I need . . . but seriously sometimes when you sit down to dinner you sit down. Not to get up again until you have to do the next thing.

So I made a sandwich with her dinner right in front of her. I really wasn't thinking about the fact that she probably wouldn't eat it if I made it in front of her until I had already started making it. So it was too late. Damage done. She did however eat 4 bites of it.
(At which point I said "whammy" and thought my entire day was a success just because of that moment.)

And then she started to pick dinner out of it and eat the bread.(Then I remembered I failed at being a good mother, just kidding, I really didn't care because it had been a long day and I thought, fine don't eat then. Sometimes I want to be like "I'm done too! Let's all whine and starve!")

Okay, so the article said not to offer an alternative. Just try again later. I get that. I do. I even agree. And then I remember that later I'll be nursing Ben again, changing diapers, stumbling over toys that someone has to pick up, and enforcing bed time . . . I'm not always going to want to come back to dinner. Dinner is when dinner is. I don't want to start the process of finding something she will eat all over again. I did that once, and it wasn't fun the 1st time . . . I also don't want her waking up in the middle of the night or early in the morning because she is hungry. I need my sleep, and now that Benny is sleeping through the night . . . I expect my sleep. Nothing worse than interrupting expected sleep. (Probably shouldn't expect it with kids so young, but I'm human. I desire and expect some amount of uninterrupted sleep.)

So she had Greek yogurt for dinner. Oh and top that off . . . my sister fed it to her. One of the joys and curses of living with people. Sometimes they do exactly what you were about to like in this situation. I was about to ask her if she would eat yogurt. I don't know if my sister saw my face and wanted to help me, or if she wanted Libby to shut it and eat just as badly as I did. But she jumped up and took over.

I've chosen to accept that there are things she will not eat. She might eat them 2 hours before, but suddenly no. She loves peas, and carrots, and sometimes beef, and sometimes potatoes . . . just not then. That's just the way it goes at this age. I'm going to try to get her to eat things, but eventually I claim defeat and feed her something she will eat without me having to pull out all the stops . . . She's too young for timers. Someday though . . . I look forward to "You have 2 minutes to eat those 2 bites of peas or you will go to bed." I was raised on the microwave timer method. It worked. We ate it or went to bed.

I will say that I give her healthy alternatives. We eat healthy in general so there really aren't bad options available. She just may have had more fruit than veggies or more dairy than something. Anyway. I'm all about peanut butter and jelly for dinner sometimes if it will get her to be quite and eat! Sigh . . .

She ate lunch with no fuss today, and is now waking up from a fabulous nap. I'm very distracted and can't remember if I wanted to write more before I just re read everything. So now I'm done. "Ah done."