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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Lack of Sleep & Eating Dirt

So, I learned a huge lesson over the past week. Even though I am a mother, and have been able to keep a human alive for over a year relatively unscathed... sometimes I have NO CLUE what I am doing haha!!!! I have been so very upset, b/c something had obviously been bothering Noah and I just couldn't figure it out. He has been GRUMPY! He has been eating horribly, he has been fussy, and temperamental, and clingy, and I had lost all hope my angel baby would ever return haha. I kept thinking that 13mths was a little TOO early for the "terribly twos" and that he had slid forever into grumpy toddlerhood oblivion.

So, in a desperate attempt to find guidance....  I went to Google... oh, how did our mothers, and their mothers, and their mothers LIVE without Google???? I just don't know... My search was for sleep disturbances. Eventhough my son has always been a great sleeper at night, his naps have been very weird lately. They have been so messed up that he has been going to bed around 6:00pm, and sleeping until 7:15am on average. He usually sleeps 12 hrs a night but has been too fussy to even barely stay up past 6:00pm. Because I work part-time and this last week I worked more than usual, Noah's schedule was all messed up. Side note: He has decided to start walking more then crawling over the past week too.

What I found out from Google is that when children start walking more, they actually become more exhausted then normal, which of course makes sense. Also, the sitter has all the kiddos on 1 nap/day, & I started wondering if that was adding to his exhaustion. Apparently when children aren't ready to drop to 1 nap/day, they will turn into little terrors haha. I don't blame this little guy, according to Google, when toddlers transition to walking more than crawling, it can be like running 3 marathons a day for them. Poor guy, he's just been EXHAUSTED!!

Over the past couple of days I have keep Noah on his normal 2 nap/day schedule and he is my sweet baby boy again. He's eating EVERYTHING like he always has, and today ate more veggies than anything else. When he was exhausted and grumpy, he would barely eat anything (there was just a lot of fussing and crying.. no interest in food at all). I felt like I was going crazy trying to get him to eat anything nutritious. It was basically organic crackers, almond milk, and peanut butter for days...

BUT, alas... he returned. Along with his sweet demeanor. These are all from today, he had mixed veggies, cucumber 'fries', zucchini 'fries', chicken, & new potatoes. He actually rejected his usual hummus tortilla for more veggies! Happy momma right here :)

Now, I thought it was a good idea for us to eat outside since it was GORGEOUS today...  however, another lesson I learned was that if a toddler has dirt and grass within reach, a toddler might mistaken one green thing for another. Before I knew it, he was eating dirt, grass, AND veggies... together. I guess there are worse things haha. And they always says a little dirt never killed anyone... See the pics below for a good laugh

                                      
Final thoughts: Today we laughed, we ate veggies, had 2 naps, and we had a wonderful day together. I guess what I have learned from this past week is that I need to start reading more parenting books haha. And continue to give my little one grace... lots of grace. It's not his fault his schedule had been so erratic. Also, if he liked veggies at one point, I just have to be patient until he's ready to eat them again. I wish I knew a pediatric psychologist, I truly feel like when our kiddos are rejecting food, they aren't always rejecting the food itself. They are trying to tell us something, or control something, or prove something... Which means as parents, we need to be better observers so we don't miss their cues. Hope you all haven't had to go through this, but I'm sure someone has. At least we're not in this parenting boat alone. 

Hope ya'll have a great rest of your week!

Love & Blessings,

The Veggie Momma 

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