Food Battles

Because of Reid's super picky-ness when it comes to food, I have instituted the new dinnertime rule that he must try a bite of everything on his plate.

Mainly I started this because he does not willingly eat ANY vegetable anymore and has even started to turn away from fruit, which is the last really healthy thing I can count on for him. He has never eaten meat with the exception of pepperoni (which he no longer eats), bacon, bologna, and vienna sausages (the only one he has eaten with any regularity). Not the healthiest meats you can think of, I know.

Right now he eats some combination of the following things: peanut butter, jelly, crackers, pasta (sometimes), cheese, bread, some fruits, and yogurt. Oh yes, and the vienna sausages. Now and then I can get him to eat almonds, as well, but it is hit or miss. Did I mention that he is a juice-aholic? Carbs and dairy.... he's your man. Anything else? You can stuff it.

So, back to the new rule... I tried not to be too hard core about it because I know that if I push, he will push back harder. But I also was not backing down because he needs to broaden his tastes a little bit.

The other night we had chicken nuggets, corn, and broccoli cheese rice. (Hey, I'm no chef....) He chugged his drink as usual, ate maybe the equivalent of one nugget and then sat there. I let him know that he needed to try a bite of the other things as well. I specified that he did not need to eat it all, just one bite to see how it tastes. He tried the corn fairly easily, giving a lovely (and oh so dramatic) gagging sound before he spit out the one tiny kernel. Then he sat there some more.

I reminded him about trying the new food (cheese and rice - what's not to love?) and said we could turn the TV off if we needed to. He looked at me and said "okay" (meaning: "game on, lady"). So, off went the TV. The rest of us were finishing up so I told him he would not be allowed to get down until he tried a bite. So, he sat there. And sat, and sat, and sat. After about 15 minutes of sitting in the quiet I came over to him and gently - in my friendly mommy voice - picked up the fork and offered him a small bite. He gave a resounding "no." I could tell he meant it.

So, time to up the ante. He likes having choices so I gave him a few choices. 1) try a bite and go play, 2) go upstairs to bed until he was ready to try the new food, or 3) get a spanking. Now, I try not to spank often, but he knows what it is so it is a bargaining chip. Naturally, my child chooses the spanking. He called my bluff, the little punk.

I had no intention of spanking him for this - mainly because I knew it wouldn't help anything - so I said I thought he just needed to go upstairs to bed. He said okay and headed on up like he owned the place.

Ten minutes later I realized he was sound asleep, at 6:30pm. Yikes! I was worried that he would be up at 3am but thankfully he slept until 6am.

This morning, he tried to pull the same stunt with a banana, which used to be a go-to staple of his acceptable foods. After some discussion he said he'd go back upstairs, even though he had only been awake for about 45 minutes. It only took a few minutes for him to come back and eat half the banana so I'll chalk that one up to me.

I know he is getting tired of his 6-8 foods but it's his decision not to try the new things. Surely he'll get past this... right? Someone please tell me he will. If not, I need to go buy some stock in vienna sausages and jelly.

Tidbits...

There are several things I have been meaning to record for posterity. I know as soon as I hit the "post" button, I'll remember a few more. Here are the ones I can remember right now:

• I was lying in bed with Reid one night. He talks about the funniest things sometimes while we are lying there in the dark at bedtime. He leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Mommy, I have to tell you something." I asked him what it was and he replied, in his whisper voice, "Daddy has a special pocket for his boogies."


• Reid is starting to learn the words to songs - on TV, the radio, etc. It is so cute to watch him sing along to the theme songs or whatever happens to be playing.


• Reid refers to Parmesan cheese as spaghetti "sprinkles," which isn't necessarily incorrect. :)


• Reid's imagination is in overdrive these days, even more than usual. He has been playing by himself a lot and I can hear him in the playroom or wherever talking to his (stuffed) "friends" and reenacting things from TV or movies, always adding his own spin to it or mixing his favorite characters to make up his own little world. Yesterday, he wanted to play Wall-E with me, so he was Wall-E and I was Eva... for, like 40 minutes. (That is a long time to be a space robot with a limited vocabulary...) He pretended to compact trash into a cube under his shirt over and over and would laugh uncontrollably when I would say "Directive?" in my Eva robot voice. (If you haven't seen the movie, this will make no sense to you... :)


• The other day, in another imaginary world created by Reid, I was eavesdropping while he was playing and I was pretty sure he told Bunny to "hold on to" his "anger." What? So I asked him what he just said and of course he repeated it: "Bunny needs to hold on to his anger." This needed some interpreting so I had to figure out what he and Bunny were playing. I finally figured out that they were pirates and Bunny needed to hold on to the ANCHOR. Ah. Now that makes sense. I don't need my 3-year-old holding on to his anger! :)

Spongebob Takes Flight!

Reid has been obsessed with kites lately. I'm not sure what spawned the interest but he had even started "making" kites all over the house with random things - napkins, scrap paper, tape, string, crayons. He even cried one day last week because he took his "kite" (at that point, it was a sheet of paper taped to a string) out in the back yard. He took off running and did not know why it didn't fly. He was heartbroken. I explained that it wasn't a windy day and that kites need wind to fly. That appeased him for the moment...



Nearly every day he looks out the back door to see if it is windy. Generally, it isn't. I told him to look at the trees to see if they are moving... that's how you know if it's windy. Fast forward: today he looked outside and was so excited to see the trees moving! Quote: "Mommy! The trees are dancing! It's a windy day! Where's my kite?" The last question was making reference to the paper on a string that disappeared into the trash can a few days ago. (Thanks goodness I had bought a Spongebob kite at the Dollar Tree a while back.)



After dinner we headed outside and had a great time. I was so impressed that 1) the Dollar Tree kite actually worked, and 2) that Reid could fly it! Of course, Ross had to get it started but Reid was able to run with it and keep it up for a long time. Thank goodness the wind cooperated - it was great!

It was hard to get the boys and the kite in the picture. :)

Daddy getting it started...


Ready and waiting.

Running, running, running! He's got his eyes on it all the way. (Notice the purposely mis-matched crocs... Reid was so proud of himself for thinking to do that!)

Rain, Rain, Rain!

We have gotten a LOT of rain lately, and Reid could not be happier! I ran out to the store for a quick trip one evening and when I got back I found Reid in the front yard with his rain coat and boots on, and no pants. Ah, fun times with Dad... :) We had a great time playing in the puddles!

Ready for fun, sans pants!

He's got all the gear on...

Here, playing "puddle hopscotch."

The drain down the side of the street was the perfect place to kick water at each other.

And a good place to make big splashes! :)

Fun Snacks

We've had some fun snacktimes during the past few weeks, a few of which were caught on film. :)

I'm just impressed that I made s'mores for no reason at all.

Smooshing it down...


Mmmmmm!

This one was just a pudding cup, and I really do not know why it ended up all over his head. See it all over the side of his face and on his arm...

And on the other side of his face, too. There was also some in his hair. He was quite pleased with himself. We went directly upstairs to the tub!

Muffins with Mom

Reid's class held a special Mother's Day presentation called Muffins with Mom. They had made special gifts and had practiced some special songs for the occasion. All the moms of the K2 students were invited. After the show, the kids joined us for a special breakfast of muffins and fruit kabobs.

The show itself was really sweet. They performed as flowers growing from a seed to a beautiful flower. Reid did a good job of singing OR performing - but not both at once. :) It was a precious morning! :) Thank you to all of Reid's teacher for putting together such a special day!

We were greeted with this great place setting - a special placemat, handprint, and a flower picture frame - and a BIG muffin! :)

A better shot of the placemat.

Reid reenacting with his "flower" - not sure why he looks so sad though. :)

I'm so glad we got a decent pic from that great morning!

Me and my sweet boy.

Another Great Grocery Week!

Ross laughs when I take pictures of the groceries. I need to show him just how many other people there are out there that take pics of their loot... I mean, food. :)

Here's Publix:

Store Coupons: $9.90

Vendor Coupons: $12.24

Advertised Special Savings: $15.36

Advantage Buy Savings: $1.33

TOTAL SAVINGS: $38.83

TOTAL SPENT: ONLY $24.56!

Just over 61% savings!

Here's Target:

TOTAL SAVINGS: $9.19

TOTAL SPENT: $9.91

Oh, so close to 50%!

Pie, Anyone?

A few weekends ago, Reid woke up on Saturday morning and, for whatever reason, had it in his head that we were making a pie that day. I hadn't mentioned anything about a pie but he was undeterred. He grabbed the can opener and a spoon and was ready to bake. So... we baked. The only thing I could think of that I knew we had all the ingredients to was a chess pie.

Reid wanted to help, so he got to "mix" the eggs for me. He did a great job. This was taken right before I turned around to grab something, only to hear a "sluuuuurp." I knew exactly what it was... I turned to see Reid with a mouthful of raw eggs! He went to spit them out and tried to spit them back in the bowl. I caught them in my hand as only a mother would. :) What's funnier is that I think he only spit them out because of my reaction and not because he didn't like them.

The finished product. That part missing from the crust started out that way... that's how I found it in the freezer. Who knows how long that pie crust was in there anyway...

The Playset is Up!

We have been weighing the idea of getting a big playset for the backyard for some time. They are SO expensive! We finally found a used one on Craigslist and were able to get it for a decent price so we scooped it up.

Of course, it was nearly an hour away from our house and it is BIG, so we had to rent a truck to go get it. We also had to take it apart when we got there. I knew it would be a day-long adventure and it was. After some hard work on Ross' part and some sprucing up, we are really happy with it. And Reid is loving his new "tree fort." (That's what he calls it.)

If it looks a little crooked to you, then your eyes are playing tricks on you.... okay, maybe not. That's one of the perils of buying one used. It is solid as a rock - very sturdy - but years of being outside have warped a few of the beams just enough to be visible. The horizontal beams are perfectly level. It doesn't help matters that our yard is not so level either, but it's not going to fall, we promise!

Special thanks to "Mr. L.A." for helping us get it to the back yard! :)

Tidbits...

Just a few things I wanted to be sure and record for posterity... :)

• Reid has learned the concept of wishing for things. Lately, Reid has been "wishing" for several things, most often a puppy, a baby, and a sister. The odds of him getting his wishes are pretty slim, but I guess he can keep wising! :)
• We went to pick up some of Ross' pants from the dry cleaner a few days ago. I take them to a place that has a drive-through because Reid is usually with me and it just easier. For whatever reason, he was fascinated by it on that day and kept asking why they had to wash the pants instead of me, what made them special, etc. When Ross came home hours later, Reid was so excited to show him the "surprise" we had got for him - the pants. It was just so funny because he was SO proud and excited about it. :)
• Reid has become fixated on the boogies in his nose. I realize this had to happen at some point and have tried not to make such a big deal about it, but I have to draw the line somewhere - like when I was making his bed and find some dried ones on the wall. GROSS! Now we're trying to make the point that we only wipe our boogies on tissues...
• The cutest thing Reid has come up with lately is the fact that he calls Parmesan cheese "Spaghetti Sprinkles." In fact, it's just short of a miracle that he is even eating spaghetti. He would not even touch it for the longest time but he has discovered it and now will eat it up - with spaghetti sprinkles, of course!