I just had to document our current dinner time situation. (This also applies to any meals eaten at home.) Lily typically picks out what she wants to eat at any given meal which I know is NOT the right way to go about mealtime, but it is what it is at this point. Over the past couple of weeks, Lily has reverted back to a bad habit of picking out what she wants and then not eating any of it. However, it has become exponentially worse with the increased number of months behind her. Now she wants just about everything she sees and then some but will only take a bite or two (or less, meaning none). Tonight was the worst at its best. As you can see, Lily has before her an impressive spread (from left to right): pierogies (cooked in two ways), cottage cheese, a wild rice and green bean pilaf, peach applesauce, ravioli with mini meatballs, linguine with bell peppers, and yogurt. She had a few bites of the pasta, stuck her hand in the applesauce and then the cottage cheese and then smeared the combination all over her booster seat. She then proceeded to go into a meltdown when Terra came over to taste the sticky mess on her chair. Lovely.
I know that I am ultimately responsible for this situation by allowing her to choose her own menu. The problem comes with getting home at 6:30 and having an hour and a half to prepare a meal, get everyone fed, feed & walk Terra, give Lily her bath, have some attempt at a little quality family time and then put Lily to bed. This is just a constant battle with me, and I am failing spectacularly. By the time Lily gets home, she is hungry and naturally wants to eat immediately. I can't blame her. Her last snack at school is at 3:30, so of course three hours later, she's ready for a meal. I plan ahead on some days, and we have really great meals waiting for us at the end of the day which is fantastic. But, I can't keep up with that every night. I also make meals at Let's Dish, so everything is frozen and ready to go, but even those can take 30 minutes or more to cook, and I just don't have the time at night. We can only eat so many Bertolli frozen meals! (which are very quick and tasty, by the way) So, on more nights than I care to admit, Lily comes home and picks out whatever pre-prepared or leftover food items we have.
This morning I was so frustrated after I had made her cheesy scrambled eggs, a pancake, applesauce, and chocolate milk and she did not touch any of it but instead whined continually, I just screamed. Not at her, or even in the same room as her, but just screamed right then and there. This was definitely not a typical vocalization from even-tempered me, and my throat is still feeling the effects of it even now (which gives you an idea of the intensity). Terra did not help the situation by not eating her dog food after several attempts of hand-feeding her and adding different "human" foods to her dog food to increase the appeal to her. (It is necessary for Terra to eat in the mornings or she gets sick, and then I come home on my lunch break to walk her and have to deal with cleaning up her vomit - just so you understand why the hand-feeding was taking place.) I, on the other hand, would have been happy to eat this morning, but of course, did not get the chance. By the end of the morning, I was very happy that Lily was going to enjoy the day at school and therefore allow me to keep (reclaim?) my sanity and get a chance to recharge and gear up for the evening. It's the best I can do in a practical world, where there simply isn't time for "Calgon, take me away" moments. Despite all of this, we had a very cuddly and laughter-filled evening, which at the end of the day, is the real stuff that gets me through.
3 comments:
Never fear - Aunt Ingrid is here (soon!) and then I can deal with the finicky Terra and help out with some food prep!
And just remember you have a two week vacation coming up! Yay!
So, not to pretend like I understand, because I definitely can't say that I do, but you dealt with it like a champ, as always. It can only go up from there right?! Love you and can't wait to see you in a week! YAY!!!!
I so feel your pain!! For what it's worth, here is my strategy. Lucy definitely needs a little something to eat between the time when we get home from daycare and when I get dinner on the table...if I don't give her something, there will be hell to pay. So I give her something to eat like a banana or graham crackers with peanut butter, tell her it's a snack, and think of it as a first course for her. That definitely helps.
As for the meals themselves, I realized early on that if I let her, she would turn me into a short order cook, and I just don't have it in me!! :) So I always try to make a meal with one or two things that I know she will eat (fruit, bread, etc.), and then she can try everything else (though chances are, she won't like it, picky eater that she is). And then I always have one non-meal item that she can have anytime if she asks--yogurt. It's healthy, it doesn't require prep on my part, and she likes it. This strategy has worked for us for awhile, and as a general rule our mealtime battles have decreased substantially.
Good luck to you!! :)
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