Lilly is big and potty trained...
She isn't accident free, but they are few and far between... usually because Steve and I weren't paying attention or something. Freaks me out a little bit... I remember thinking I didn't really ever want 2 kids in diapers.. but I never contemplated having no kids in diapers for a long time. We still have a while to go before another one comes, so when that does happen we will be like new parents again.. oh the joys of creating a family.
Anyway.... random thought aside, the point is that Lilly is big. She's getting bigger and older every day (duh smarty pants...) but I guess when you have a baby you wrap your head around the idea of having a baby... kinda having a hard time wrapping my head around having a little girl. But alas, I have one, and she happens to be the best thing God ever made. So we are enjoying her sweetness. And her boogeryness.... but mostly just the sweetness.
Her hair is getting long. It's comfortably at her shoulders, On a good day they'll stretch out the loose curls and go farther... and her bangs lay comfortably past her nose... I thought the longer her bangs got the easier they would just sweep to the side, but no... she likes them to tickle the top of her lip. Can't stand clips to pin them back or pony tail holders... what's a mom to do... I have to be sneaky by putting on a favorite show. Among her favorites right now are Strawberry Shortcake, CareBears, and Pink Kitty-Kat (pink panther and friends). All on Netflix.
Anyway, she's lovely.
We have some bad habits that we would like to get rid of though... I know these bad habits are completely 100% my fault... can't be a perfect parent.... but we can try.
Lilly has really crappy eating habits. They started because she was always such a small girl. She has only been above the 10th percentile in weight once since she was born. The doctors had always told us to make sure she eats, even if it's crap... that girl needs food. So when we put veggies in front of her, and she said no, we put french fries and breaded chicken nuggets in front of her. And she ate.
Then when we were busy and didn't even give her the choice of veggies, we just put french fries and breaded and fried chicken nuggets in front of her... and she ate.
(side note... Lilly is naked from her bath today, and standing on top of a really tall chair doing the Lilly shake dance right now... oh I love her...:)
Anyway, then we fed her sugar, and candy, and suckers, and chocolate with the holidays and the potty training... and she ate.
... don't judge us....
Now, although everyone had always told me she was tiny and that she needed to eat... I never really felt like she was unhealthily small... just that that was the way she was and it was fine... who knows... maybe everyone elses kids are just fat? (no.. I'm not calling your kid fat. calm down... sheesh.) But since the doctors said give her what she will eat, I did.
Now I've finally come to the conclusion that my baby is small and that's just fine. I would so much rather her be small and have healthy eating habits later, than normal now and crappy eating habits later.
sad story... she already has bad eating habits.
Any ideas on how to change this? Just never give her fries again? no more candy on the face of the earth? the only option we have is brussell sprouts and grilled chicken and you eat it or you starve? I know what your're thinking though... she wouldn't starve, she would break down and eat the good food... but you dont know that... she's kinda extreme... she would probably resort to eating and thriving off of her boogers. (which I'm sure are salty and creamy... it's the only green thing she will eat!) ewwww... don't be gross....
Although I can't complain a ton... She will eat almost any fruit. And she loves green juice which has lots of fruit and veggies in it... so maybe she is getting it somewhere...
Anyway, any ideas on changing eating habits? I hope one day I will put down a plate and she will go... MMMM.... I love the cucumbers!! and she picks out carrots to eat out of my salads rather than the croutons...
Someday.
5 comments:
this post made me smile. I don't know? lead by example? ? thats all I got? haha! good luck!
Keep offering her good foods--being willing to throw it out when she doesn't want it, give her options (put out grapes and carrots with every meal or just on the counter during the day), and don't pressure her. Eat the good foods in front of her and talk it up. I hear making fun terms for veggies makes kids want to try them: alien balls (peas), baby swords (carrots), etc. Make up games like turning off the lights and using flashlights to find and kill (eat) the veggie monsters. Does she like to dip things? Put out Ranch dip and see how many things you can dip but she can only dip again if she takes a bite. (Let her feed you as well.) Also, docs look at children's nutrition in terms of a week so if she doesn't eat anything but candy one day but the next day she eats fourteen carrot slices, make that balance it out in your mind and be okay with it. With Sydney, I find if I just put food in front of her (have her play in her high chair then just put some food on the tray or hand her a bowl of cut up strawberries while she's watching TV), then she will try it. And the more you have on the plate, the more they'll eat. Like if you offer her 6 carrots and she only eats one, at least she ate one. But if you only put out three, she may not want any. It's kinda funny that way. Anyway, if you have more questions, I'd be happy to help ya out!
I know what you mean...Cory and I were just having this discussion the other day. We were told the same thing with Jocelyn, and my niece who is way smaller than Jocelyn (if possible) was put on ice cream and peanut butter and just plain butter before she even hit a year mark because she was so small. We also just came to the same conclusion...she's just small, and we are doing worse things for her by letting her eat junk. I don't understand what Pediatricians are thinking, though... is it important to have a healthy, but small kid, or a kid that weighs more and is eating things that are going to give her diabetes, ADHD, and cancer when she is an older kid and an adult... just sayin'.
We've just been trying to find good healthy food that she'll actually eat, which has been a process and will continue to be a process. But she loves nuts and pears and bananas, so we always have a backup. Also, you can hide anything in a smoothie. I just made her one and put walnuts and flax seed in and she drank it :)
Annalise used to eat all kinds of good food...but then they become toddlers and they realize they have a choice, then it only gets harder. So I also give her green juice, it must be a family thing. Some suggestions that I do with Anna...
Use sweet potatoe fries in place of regular ones, and try to just bake them.
Use a dip for everything, and somehow it is so much better ( but we have a one dip rule per piece)
There is also a great cookbook called deceptively delicious, and it has all kinds of recipes using purees of veggies in place of other ingredients
And just keep on offering her all the foods that she is rejecting now, I just gave annalise salmon last night, and she used to love it. She took one bite gagged and spit it out. But she stil managed to take two more (small) bites after that. Every little bit helps!
Good luck!
Sigh. Eli is way picky too, and it's so hard when you've been worried about their weight and/or nutrition. Like when Eli had RSV I seriously brought home Dairy Queen JUST to see if he'd eat it. ANYTHING to get him to eat lol. (It didn't work, btw ;)
I've heard good things about that deceptively delicious cookbook - at least that would give her maybe some familiar foods that she likes, and then you could slowly transition from there?
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