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Thursday, September 18, 2014

Grumpy Goo

Our evening... 
Being encouraging... promise, I was encouraging not scolding, the hubby just caught me at a weird shot haha. 
 Negotiating.... 
Giving up and dancing around the kitchen instead. 

First of all, pardon the nappy hair. It was a monsoon in Katy Tx today, and I got caught up in it, TWICE, on my way into work and out. Second of all, my little had a rough day, and was being a "grumpy goo" as we call it in our house. He didn't want to eat anything for dinner, not even his beloved veggies. Meal time was just a whole bunch of whiney noises and scrunched faces. Something interesting that I have noticed about Noah when he is not in his normal eating routine, is that there are a MILLION reasons why he might not be in the mood for food. More interesting, is that most of them typically have little to do with the food itself. Below are all the reasons I have observed so far... 

- TEXTURE, TEXTURE, TEXTURE!
- Wrong color
- Yucky smell
- Cut too small
- Portion too big
- Teeth hurt
- Boredom
- Fun to throw
- Fun to squish
- Strong flavor 
- New flavor
- Too hot
- Too cold
- Wants to play
- Sleepy
- Tummy ache
- Headache
- Distracted
- Too lumpy
- Touched other foods
- Too hard to pick up
- Slippery 
- Unrecognizable

Today, the main thing I noticed why he wasn't interested in eating, was just because he wanted to spend time with us. My husband and I danced around the kitchen to the radio like fools, to try and cheer him, and it worked... for a minute... but didn't appease him completely. The second I took him out and held him and twirled him around the kitchen he was happy. We went to the play room, and after a few minutes of quality time he decided he wanted to eat some beef and broccoli. Now I'm NOT encouraging everyone to let their kid become a little manipulative dictator who always gets to eat dinner in front of the TV or in their play room haha. 

No, I'm actually encouraging you to take a closer look at your kiddos and observe what is deeper that could be going on. Some days, he's just being a turkey. Today, he just wanted to spend time with us since we both had to work today. Ya'll, this parenting thing isn't easy, and for me I'm always learning something. Today, I learned that you don't always have to force your kid to do something. You can work WITH them, not against them, and they may eventually come around. 

I have also learned to make most meals a time of FUN! Yep, FUN parents. FUN fun FUN! I never realized why you see so many parents in movies looking like idiots playing the airplane game with every bite...until I became a parent. I know we're busy, i'm busy too. But my son eats SO MUCH BETTER when we sit down as a family, and include him, and pay attention to him. He eats even better when I sit with him, and give him my undivided attention and make funny faces, and sing funny songs. I made up the 'Yum yum' song  a loooong time ago, and he just loves it! We read books, and play peek-a-boo sometimes, and all of it helps to makes the whole experience FUN! :)

now all you parents with multiple kiddos are looking at this screen like I'm crazy. I know I know, this is unrealistic when you have 20 kids and 0 hours in the day to do this. BUT, I figure, if my oldest is a good example, then the little ones that come along will look up to him and learn something. Plus I feel like it sets a good ground work for our family, if our oldest is the veggie trail blazer. Who knows, I could be crazy, but I'll try haha. 

Final thoughts: at the end of the day, what I have observed is most of the time it may not be about the taste of the veggies (when they're really little anyways). It can be a million other things. Sometimes he rejects foods at dinner he ate happily at lunch. I'm challenging you as parents to look deeper... and not give up! This is the most important part, don't give UP! And take the time to TEACH them, they are waiting to learn anything and everything from you - even what healthy foods they should eat! If they see you taking every moment just to throw sub par meals together to shut them up and move on to the rest of the day, they will become adults that will never take time for their health. I know this for a fact, I see it every day. You've got this mom & dad, and your babies are worth the extra effort to figure this thing out!!

Take a look at my baby earlier in the week eating a cucumber. His cucumber that he will ONLY eat in large chunks now (he used to only like the slices... took me a while to figure this one out haha). And this is reinforcement why you never give up, one day they may love something one way, the next they may hate it. Eventually, it seems for us that Noah always ends up coming back around. 
March on & good luck moms & dads!!!

Love & Blessings,
The Veggie Momma

1 comment:

  1. I love it!! You are a great mama!! Congrats on Blackplate club too!

    ReplyDelete