Wordless Wednesday

Then (April 17th, 2010):

Now (July 30th, 2010):

Food Wars

You would never know from looking at him that Brenden has become a picky eater. It's not just a "growth spurt" or "phase" either, it's absolutely an "I don't want to eat that and you can't make me" attitude. Night after night we would bargain with him. Three bites of a food he didn't want to eat for something he DID want to eat, like a cookie or ice cream. Two more bites and he could watch Mickey Mouse. One night I even ate dessert in front of him. That was the most awful ice cream I have ever eaten. He was unhappy, we were very unhappy, and lots of time was spent sending him to time out or cleaning up food he had slung off of his fork in anger.

Then I ran across a blog about toddlers and how to handle picking eating. Some people claimed that picky eaters were "made" by parents that allowed their children to only eat one specific thing, such as peanut butter and jelly, every night. Others said that children should be introduced to all sorts of spices and textures early to allow them to develop a taste for everything. Since we were obviously past the "early" stage and we always required him to eat what we ate, we really weren't sure what to do.

Then, one day, we decided to just calm down and let it go. No, he would not be picking out his meals every night, but we would place dinner in front of him and he could eat it or not. There would be no more forcing and no more bribing. After a reasonable amount of time we would get up from the dinner table, clean the kitchen, and do whatever we were planning on doing that night. We thought removing some of the stress from the situation would be good for us, even if it meant Brenden might eat a little less. (Have you seen this child lately? He's not so chunky anymore, but he's not small by any means.)

The first week was hit and miss. We had to remind each other not to get upset if he sat there the entire time drinking his water and nothing else. One night he didn't eat a thing and requested oatmeal after dinner. Our reply was, "I'm sorry, you didn't eat dinner. No more food tonight." Okay...even typing that sounds harsh. We weren't doing it to starve him, we were trying to teach him that he was expected to eat what we were having for dinner. That happened once. Since then we've never had to say it again.

That's not to say that I haven't fixed him something different for dinner if it was really spicy, which he doesn't handle well, or I thought it turned out badly. And if he eats his dinner and requests to eat more afterwards we're okay with that as well. He's also had a few nights where he ate very little but didn't complain. The next morning he will usually eat twice as much cereal.

This does not apply at restaurants. If we don't have to eat the same thing as each other then why should he? Plus, he is learning to make decisions, which I think is good for him. For example, this past weekend we went to T.G.I. Friday's and he was able to decide between macaroni and cheese, chicken fingers, pizza or a hamburger. He chose macaroni and cheese with mandarin oranges for the side. He practically licked the plate clean and was very well behaved. I'm glad we figured out what works best for him in that situation.

I also give him choices at lunch time. I watched my friend Heather G. do this with her daughter and I thought it was great. If he decides on a sandwich he is allowed to choose between peanut butter with honey or jelly. (He usually chooses honey.) If he chooses jelly he can pick between grape and strawberry. Then he is allowed to decide if he wants squares or triangles. One day he even told me he wanted "big triangles", which made me laugh.

Giving him a choice has made a huge difference for us, even if it is just the choice between eating and not eating. He's calmer and eats almost everything we give him. We're calmer and enjoy dinner so much more. Happy dinner times makes for a much happier family, and who doesn't want a happy family?

All done!

The Most Beautiful Thing I've Ever Seen

My two little loves meeting for the first time. Always makes me cry such happy tears!

Recipe: Shepard's Pie

I'm pretty sure this isn't a traditional Shepard's Pie, but it's yummy! I found it in the cookbook Connie bought me, Busy Woman's Quick & Easy Recipes. (thank you, Connie!) Casseroles seem to be what I'm leaning towards lately, probably because they are easy and make a lot of leftovers that Tim can take to work for lunch.

Shepard's Pie

1 lb lean ground beef

1 (1 ounce) packet taco seasoning mix

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

2 cups instant mashed potatoes, prepared

• Preheat over to 350 degrees.
• Brown beef in skillet, cook for 10 minutes and drain.
• Add taco seasoning and 3/4 cup water and cook for additional 5 minutes. Spoon beef mixture into 8-inch baking pan and sprinkle cheese on top.
• Sprinkle with corn and spread mashed potatoes over top. Bake for 25 minutes or until top is golden brown. Serves 4 to 6.

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

Pretty girl!

The Entertainer

Brenden is a ham and has been entertaining us for a very long time. He often says hello to random people while we're at the store or yells at other kids. "Hi, boy!" is one of his favorite phrases. (We've had a hard time explaining that he's not being rude or mean, he's just trying to be friendly. I'm still not sure why that offends anyone.)

Lately he's being our little singing sensation. He's always loved music and has been bopping around to it forever, but he's just started remembering lyrics and melodies in the last few months. He has a sort of set list that he follows. It goes:

1. The Diego Theme Song

2. Itsy Bitsy Spider (with hand motions)

3. Twinkle Twinkle (also with hand motions)

4. ABC's

Sometimes he will throw in The Black Eyed Peas "I Got A Feeling", which is one of my favorites. I request it a lot! Sometimes it's the theme song from Wonder Pets, which we often hear him singing when he's falling asleep. (Or while he's asleep...which cracks me up.) We're required to clap every time he finishes a song and then we are rewarded with a huge smile and a bow.

I still can't decide what he'll be when he grows up. An actor? A football player? A comedian? A soccer player? Maybe a singing and dancing baseball player. What I do know is that whatever he decides to do, he'll never be bored, and neither will we.

Crutches

Not the metaphorical type. The real life, metal, hurt your armpits type. Well...just Tim's armpits.

Tim's knee has been bothering him for roughly six years. He was running a marathon (Craziness!) and sometime during the 26.2 miles hurt his right knee. He's complained about it, had doctors look at it, and went through physical therapy. None of those things helped, so he went to another doctor for an MRI. That test showed he had water on his knee and a torn lateral meniscus. The only way to really fix it was surgery.

His surgery was scheduled for the 16th. We headed out early while the kids drove grandma Connie crazy. (She also made us enchiladas...thanks, Connie!) We were told to get to the hospital at 11:30 pm for pre-surgery preparations and then he would be taken back at 1:30 pm. Tim got dressed in his sah-weet purple hospital gown with matching socks and hat and we waited. And waited. And waited. By 2:30 pm Tim was STARVING. He wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight the night before. When 3:30 pm rolled around we were all getting a little anxious. They finally rolled him back at 3:50 pm and Mike and I headed down to the cafeteria so I could eat way too much greasy food.

That's hot.

We made it back up to the waiting room at 4:20 pm and the doctor called about 30 seconds later. It turned out that Tim had more damage to his cartilage than they thought so they had to clean it out and hope that it would grow back. What that really meant was that Tim would be on crutches for 7-10 days instead of the 2 days we expected. Tim was not happy about that development. Other than the pain in his knee, he did fine with surgery and the anesthesia. He was good to go home about an hour after they brought him out.

Brenden has a habit of jumping on us so we thought that the first few days would go better for Tim's knee if he hung out with the grandparents. Friday night and Saturday morning he was spoiled at grandma and grandpa Kelly's house. He played with racecars, was taken out for a yummy breakfast and went fishing for the first time. Saturday night and Sunday he hung out with grandma Warehime and the spoiling continued. He was able to see his great-grandmas, go to church to play with the kids, and hang out at Kiddie Park.

Our weekend at home was nowhere near as exciting. Tim spent most of the time working on his Captain's Career Course and icing his knee while Lauren slept and I did house stuff, like arguing with the weed eater and mowing the yard. Exciting! And so very HOT.

Helping daddy work.

We are all ready for Tim to feel better. Tim has a big old case of cabin fever and I'm still exhausted from mowing. Hopefully this will be the only surgery he needs. If it's not, we may all go a bit crazy. (And I may hire a lawn service.)