Back from the dead

and….I’m back.

Between finals, the end of the school year, and fighting illness, it’s been hard to find time, energy and motivation to post. But, I’ve had plenty to write about.

So, to get back into things, here is where we are these days.

-I have to show the food to Mason before he will commit to eating it. If I just place those goldfish in front of him like before? He’ll throw them all on the floor. But, if I show him and ask if he wants some, he’ll either take it and eat it, or swat my hand away.

-He loves pureed butternut squash.

-He seems to want to hold larger pieces and control solid food for himself. However, he prefers pureed food and to have us feed him. I tried giving him a spoon so he could feed himself, and he wouldn’t pick it up. Our Pediatrician claims he will feed himself when he is ready and not to worry, but I keep having visions of his prom date feeding him mashed bananas when he’s 18.

-He will act like he likes something, take two bites and then act like you are trying to kill him when you offer him more.

-The dog has now gained a full pound (which is a lot when you consider he was only 8 lbs to begin with) from eating all the food Mason throws him.  And he’s turning into quite the beggar.

-I made him the worst smoothie ever…I put kale in it, and the kale kept getting stuck in our teeth…it was so gross.  He hated it…I tried to pretend I liked it to save face, but after three sips poured it out. However, I redeemed myself by making the best smoothie  ever the next day. My secret? Frozen banana. It makes the smoothie taste like a milkshake!

 

 

Super Mom

I am not super mom. My mom was a super mom, though. Here’s why:

She raised twins, always put our toys away at the end of the day, took us outside to play, cooked an amazing meal from scratch (that most of the time I refused to eat–perhaps she should do a guest post on how she dealt with her picky eater) every night.

My mom worked, but she worked from the home and was (and still is) her own boss, giving her the ability to always be around.

My mom is a wildly talented artist who would scribble a drawing on our brown-bagged lunches that would make Picasso jealous.

I think back on my childhood and I realize I’m not my mother.  And there are times that makes me sad and feel really deficient.

My house is a filthy mess. I don’t put toys away unless someone is coming over. My husband and I are both borderline hoarders and the clutter often makes me cringe.

I rarely cook a meal from scratch and there are many days Mason doesn’t eat a vegetable.

Some days I’m too tired to take Mason outside to play. He doesn’t get nearly as much interaction with other children as he should.

I’m a horrible artist.

I work outside of the home, and when I get back I’m so exhausted that I don’t have it in me to be fun.

But, taking all that into consideration, I realized this week that I don’t have to be my mom for my child to have wonderful childhood memories like I did.

I don’t have to be super mom. I just have to be the best mom that I can be. And, if one day I’m not so great, there’s always tomorrow.

Take note: The sun is totally in his eyes and I didn’t even realize.

Rookie

Remember in my last post I thought all our eating problems would be solved if I just gave him bigger pieces of food? Well, the next day I made him a kick-ass grilled cheese sandwich. I didn’t just toast the bread and melt the cheese. No, I actually took out and dirtied a pan, used butter, and made the kind of grilled cheese my mom used to make me. I excitedly cut it, let it cool, and gave Mason a quarter of the sandwich for him to eat. I was positive he would love it…I mean, how can you not? Can you guess what he did?

He delicately picked it up…and tossed it on the floor. So now, instead of bite sized pieces for the dog to eat, Tug can now choke on an entire sandwich. Does anyone know the doggie Heimlich maneuver?

So, I did what anyone would do. I picked that sandwich off the floor and I ate it. And Mason ate Goldfish.

I’m such a rookie. Thinking one good meal meant that it was going to be that way forever. Silly me.

Sigh.

Bite Sized=No Thanks?

Sorry for the lack of posting. Things have been crazy with work. For those that don’t know I am a public school teacher (the budget cuts are a huge stress), but I’m also working toward my masters at night. So that means two nights a week I don’t get home until after 8:30 pm. After  I get home I’m totally exhausted and it’s all I can do to muster up the energy to play with Mason (when he’s awake to see me.)

But…..

This past weekend we took Mason out for pizza. When the food came I cut a bunch of bite-sized pieces for him to eat. I put them in front of him and he  proceeded to throw them on the floor one by one. Frustrated I just gave him the rest of the slice figuring maybe he would play with it but at least it would occupy him long enough I could eat my food.

Little did I know I was embarking on quite the discovery and it was a thing of beauty.

He ate the ENTIRE slice. I gave him another slice about the same size (maybe 2/3 of the slice) and he ate that one!  Clearly  he didn’t want small baby bites; he wanted a slice that looked more like what we were eating.  I plan on testing this theory with a sandwich to see if he’ll eat it if I give him a more substantial piece. My only concern is that it be big enough so it won’t be a chocking hazard but not so small he won’t eat it. Any suggestions on things I can try to feed him??

Here is a terrible picture of  Mason (it was taken from my phone) eating his first muffin…of course he wanted to hold and eat the entire thing. Why was I so surprised about him wanting the entire slice of pizza??

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>18 Month Stats

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I can’t believe Mason is 1.5!! Time has flown by. He weighed in at whopping 24 lbs (25th percentile, which is much better than the 5th where he’s been sitting for the last year) and he’s 33 inches tall, which puts him in the 75th percentile. I spoke with the pediatrician about his horrible eating habits. He told me not to worry and I should look at his diet on a weekly basis, not a daily basis. I shouldn’t worry if all he’ll eat on a given day is yogurt and Goldfish. I’m a big fan of our pedi. He’s very laid back and not worried at all (I wasn’t either, but it still helps to hear!)

One thing Mason LOVES is Purdue chicken strips. I love that they make them with whole wheat breading, but I hate the massive amounts of sodium. To remedy this I tried making my own chicken nuggets for him…I pounded chicken breasts, dredged them in flour and egg then coated in Italian Panko for the breading. Finally I baked them 350. I thought it tasted pretty damn good but my little toddler terrorist wouldn’t even taste them! It’s as if he knew they weren’t processed and full of salt so he just couldn’t be bothered. If he could give me the finger I think he would have. I need to get a picture of the face he makes when he doesn’t want to eat something.

Any recipes for “chicken nuggets” or nugget alternatives we can try?

>What is it about Junk Food?

>I’m very careful about what Mason eats. I breastfed him for 14 months, made all of his babyfood and he didn’t have any white sugar till he had his 1st birthday cake. I don’t judge other moms who do differently…I mean, who am I to judge? I make many parenting choices that I’m sure “super mom” would not approve of. I realize that he’s going to eat junk food and I need to show him a proper balance of healthy vs. unhealthy but I feel like while his little body is growing so rapidly I want every calorie to count. I eat junk food all the time and it’s actually quite contradictory that I keep it from him they way that I do. Mason is very skeptical over new (and sometimes old) food. He won’t even open his mouth. But ironically when his “uncle” Ken gave him a Tastycake (not nearly as good as Hostess) for the first time Mason opened WIDE and ate the entire thing without hesitation. How did he know it was going to be something he liked? I can’t get him to open his mouth for anything, but he see’s something in plastic wrap and immediately knows it’s something worth eating? Maybe I should put some plastic wrap over that carrot next time.

Here is Mason with his uncles who aside from loving him like crazy, introduced him to his first Tastycake.

>Smoothie Love

>I figured out something that Mason will always consume some of….Smoothies! I can put anything in them; carrots, banana, protein powder, yogurt, you name it. I got the idea to try making him a smoothie when I had tons of cooked carrots I made for him that he wouldn’t touch. I put a bunch of them in the blender with yogurt, banana and some Amazing Grass powder. I think it is something about the straw and drinking from a real glass. It’s different and that makes it interesting to him I suppose. He takes sips from the straw and goes “mmmmmmm”. I’m going to have to experiment with some recipes and see which he likes best. I figure its a great way to get him to eat some vegetables because he won’t eat them straight. We’ll see how long he likes them. His current M.O. is he’ll love it today hate it tomorrow.

>Yo! Baby!

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Yesterday Mason showed us his new trick. M is slow to talk…He can vocalize all the sounds, but doesn’t really say much that has meaning (like he won’t call the dog ” dog” or me “mama”.) The only thing he does is he will look at a light and say “la la la light!” Which ends up sounding more like like “la la la ahhh!” but close enough.

but yesterday….I took out some Yo Baby Yogurt to feed him and I said “yo!” and he proceeded to say “baby.” We did this over and over again. So yes, my son won’t say mama, or daddy but he is happy to say his favorite brand of yogurt. Consumerism at it’s best.

>Welcome to the blog!

>I’ve started this blog to give working and non-working moms everywhere some ideas on healthy foods that even the pickiest of kids will eat! I am a working mom and wife. I have an 18 month old son, Mason. Mason used to eat up anything and everything we gave him but three months ago he stopped eating anything that isn’t a goldfish. It’s my mission to find products he’ll eat and I feel good about!