When I was young and naive, I used to see parents giving in to their children at meal times. I was appalled at the amount of chicken nuggets, french fries or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I saw win the battle over vegetables and fruit. I swore that my kid would never be that way. They would eat what was in front of them or not eat at all. Well, I've since learned sometimes things don't go as you plan.
Lu was always a great eater from the beginning. She ate green vegetables like a champ despite the constant barrage of people telling me she wouldn't. She tried everything at least once before turning up her nose at it. In fact, Lucy hated plain rice cereal. It had to have some flavor for her to eat it. Even when we gave up the Gerber foods, she ate things most kids wouldn't. Asparagus, Sweet Potatoes, Fresh Ravioli, anything that I put on her plate she ate. I was so proud and thought we were on the road to successful eating. Then she turned 2.
The last month has been a war when it comes to Lucy's eating habits. She only wants peanut butter and jelly or french fries. I'm sure I'm partly to blame since I've been cooking meals for 1.5 people every night for the last 6 months. We ended up sharing things like a breast of chicken or slice of pizza. Leftovers became so regular here, that I thought I was going to scream if I had to eat chicken or pasta for 3 days in a row (lunch AND dinner) again. So the giving in came naturally. When I would ask Lucy what she wanted for dinner, I pretty much just made whatever she wanted. I tried to include healthy items, but I guess I was so busy I didn't notice the day she stopped eating vegetables.
The battle got so bad last week that after 30 minutes of crying and fighting with her, I took her dinner away and told her she was done. I felt terrible. In my defense, Lucy would take a bite of her dinner, chew it and then spit it into her hand. Not only is that not appropriate at the table, it was proof she wasn't going to eat. She cried for a pb & j the whole 30 minutes. I knew I had to remain firm, but it was so hard. She hadn't eaten more then a few bites at breakfast and lunch that day, so I knew she had to be at least a little hungry. But I followed through and took the food away, my heart breaking as I poured the chicken into Kelly's food dish.
That night, I asked Jon to help me talk to her via Skype about her eating habits. Even though she kept her head down the whole time and kept trying to change the subject, I knew that having Jon tell her she needed to start eating without crying was getting through to her. Its hard to discipline your kids when your a thousand miles away and on a computer screen, but I hoped she understood what we expected of her.
The next morning, Lucy woke up starving. I didn't give her a choice, and she looked at the oatmeal with wide eyes. As soon as she looked like she was going to cry, she seemed to get a hold of herself and picked up her spoon to begin eating. She ate the whole bowl of cereal and asked for more! I gave her a banana and sent her on her way. I was so excited I didn't have to fight to make her eat that I did a little happy dance in the kitchen.
The war still wages on here, but overall its much better. It looks like Mommy is winning for now. We had a small skirmish about eating chicken last night, but she knew I meant business and the minute that piece of chewed up chicken started to drop into her hand, she decided to put it back and finish swallowing the meat. I was only able to get her to take one bite of chicken, but that's better then before.
Now I understand what all those parents went through and trust me, I get the giving in to chicken nuggets. I'm just hoping I can stop giving in and start teaching her what good eating is again. I know it will help once Daddy comes home for sure. But in the meantime, I have to stick to my guns.
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