the war on…mealtime

Jan 29

Posted by: Rachel in: blog, caleb isaiah, family, just another day in paradise, me myself and i, memories, parenting, ramblings, rants, who wants to read this?, you might be a mom

I am a knight of the round table. And I don’t mean the one in Camelot either. I spend countless hours each week sitting at our kitchen table negotiating the terms of a single bite of food. In the past few days, Caleb has taken to a new phrase. “I don’t wike that. Blegh.” I don’t wike cheese. Blegh. I don’t wike bananas. Blegh. I don’t wike brownies. Blegh. I may have even chuckled to myself the first time he said it. But by seventh time, nobody was laughing. By the twenty third, I was biting my tongue, and by the one hundred and twelfth, well….let’s just say I was experiencing a rise in blood pressure.

I was having a lazy day today. I didn’t eat breakfast, and I got very hungry very fast at lunchtime. I could feel my blood sugar dropping, so I grabbed the first thing I saw…sugary cereal. Hey we all have our moments. I fixed us each a bowl of cereal for lunch. After complying with all of the adult wishes…”I need some milk in dare. I need a spoon pwease. Sit me up to da table. etc etc.” I plopped down and inhaled my lunch. After about four bites, he pushed his bowl toward the center of the table. “I’m all done. Tink I can just dwink my milk now.” TINK again buddy. I set his milk at the middle of the table and calmly explained (for the 900th time) that he would need to eat something in addition to drinking milk. You have to eat to be healthy, food gives you energy, yada, yada. We have two laws of the land regarding our round table. 1. All parties must remain at the table until everyone has finished eating. 2. If you don’t eat your dinner, you may have water in between, and we’ll try again next meal (because he will drink a meal up in a heartbeat asking for cup after cup of milk). That being said, you would not BELIEVE the food I throw away. We’re talking third world nation quantities. You know what they say about payback…. I wasn’t exactly the easiest child to get along with at the table. My mom fed me bananas like it was her sole purpose for existing on this planet. My friend, who shall remain nameless, and I buried our bananas under the deck one day. I think my mom watched us out the window. I became a pro at hiding broccoli in the trashcan. Dumping just the right small amount on top and putting a few other pieces down empty paper towel rolls and under napkins.

At this point, I’m faced with very little choice. If he won’t eat em…hide em. I bought the Deceptively Delicious cookbook. I haven’t tried any of the recipes yet. I need to get to it, because the situation is getting worse by the minute. It’s like he eats less every day.

Comments

3 Responses to “the war on…mealtime”

Jen
January 29th, 2008 10:25 pm

At least he was kind enough to push his bowl into the center of the table! This morning Jack decided that he doesn’t wike syrup or pancakes so he flipped his plate upside down… Thankfully it all stayed on the table (this time)!

Rachel
January 29th, 2008 11:02 pm

Ah yes he was quite polite today. Normally with cereal he would stir it around and around until half of it had flown out of the bowl. Sometimes he drives his food back and forth across the table, full sound effects of course. It looks like he is working on a piece of artwork, delightful really. Chants mantra God made toddlers simply adorable for a reason!