Put It In Your Mouth!

Your kids won’t eat? I’m shocked. What a crappy mother you must be.

Today’s 5 Facts About Kids That Won’t Eat

1. A fat child is not necessarily a well nourished child (ie, adding butter to everything will not help)

For example, children living at or below poverty level are often overweight, but malnourished. This is because the foods that are better for us are not usually the cheapest. It costs much less money to fill your child up on McDonald’s than it does to satisfy them with vegetables, fruits, and lean sources of protein. It is important for a child’s brain development to have adequate intake of fat. Those fats should be included in the diet by way of whole milk and full fat cheeses, and fats that occur naturally in foods like olive oil, avocado, and nuts. The artery clogging fats are usually found in fried foods, butters, “synthetic” oils like canola oil, and cholesterol laden foods.You can increase your child’s weight or maintain it without giving them straight butter or fatty foods. Healthy snacks like string cheese, lower sodium deli turkey breast rolled up with cheese, graham crackers with peanut butter, and yogurt with a sprinkle of granola are good choices. If your child snacks all day, of course they won’t be hungry for a full sit down meal. So choose wisely the times you let your child have a snack. The same goes for milk and juice. Those are beverages that can quickly fill up a small tummy. Make sure the juice you give your child adds up to no more than 8oz per day, and that you dilute the juice with 50% water. Try: avoid snacks all together. See if your child eats.

2. Kids love to gain control. The more you try to cram it in their mouth, the more they will refuse to eat it.

Toddlers have pretty much zero control over anything. On top of this, their vocabulary is very limited. Temper tantrums are an effective means to communicate, saying “I’m hungry, pissed off, or tired”. Food refusal is another way to gain control, get a rise out of your parents and have some say in what you can and can not do. Your child is probably told “no” or purposefully redirected to another activity several times throughout the day. But when you try to feed them or offer certain foods, the child, not the parent, is in control of whether it goes in their mouths or not.

3. Your child will not starve themselves to death

At certain ages children’s growth slows down immensely. If they aren’t growing, they aren’t as hungry. Their bodies aren’t working as hard and thus require much less fuel. A few bites of something may be all they want. There WILL be times where your child will probably eat absolutely nothing, and I know for a fact that you will freak out and try to force feed them. I did, and I do. And I know that it doesn’t work. You can give your child a vitamin with iron everyday, like Poly-vi-sol or Enfamil. You can offer nutriton drinks like Pediasure or Nutripals. they have the complete balance of a meal, with protein, a small amount of fiber, calcium and other minerals and vitamins, fat, and carbohydrate. It is often given to children getting their nutrition through tube feedings, so you can count on it being pretty complete. But remember, drinking one of these things is like eating a meal. Don’t expect your child to drink one and then eat lunch a half hour later. Your pediatrician will let you know if your child is gaining adequate weight, which is also compared to their height. Genetics have an impact too. My daughter barely weighed 18 lbs at the age of one, but both my husband and I are thin. She was in the 5th percentile for weight, and the 50th for height. But she wasn’t losing weight, her growth curve was pretty normal, and she was happy and active.

4. Sit down to a family meal and enjoy your food, conversation and time together. EVERYONE eats the same food.

Food then becomes fun and social and not a frustrating power issue. Your kids then get choices. They are limited choices mind you, but that prevents them from being overwhelmed. They can have peas, noodles, meatloaf and green beans. They don’t HAVE to eat them. They can have a few bite of noodles and a spoonful of peas. Thats fine. Your child can eat a little of everything. Or maybe pretty much nothing at all. Remind them and yourself that it’s not buffet night, you can’t give them ten other choices of foods you will prepare for them. Having something to do besides staring at your childs plate and streessing out is good for you too. A step up? Have your picky eater help you prepare food. Even an 18 month old can set napkins on the chairs, spread paper plates out, and sprinkle cheese on something.

5. Don’t give up on a food your child refuses. It may take 10 times for them to:

a) try it

b) like it

c) eat it

Recipe du Jour, Mexican Lasagna

• burrito shells
• 1 lb ground turkey, chicken or lean beef
• package lower sodium taco seasoning
• brown or whole grain rice
• chicken boullion or chicken broth
• can of black beans, drained but not rinsed
• salsa
• ranch
• sour cream
• shredded cheddar
• optional diced onion, avocado, sliced olives, diced tomato, chopped green or red pepper, etc

Cook meat in a skillet. According to package directions, add the taco seasoning. Set aside. In a sauce pan or microwave, cook the rice according to package directions. Boil it in the chicken broth or throw some chicken bouillion in the cooking water for more flavor. Slightly under cook the rice. Drain and set aside. In a casserole dish (sprayed with Pam), layer a burrito shell, and the cooked meat topped with a few tablespoons of cheese. Cheese works like glue to stick all the layer together. Place another burrito shell, the rice with a few tablespoons of cheese on top, another burrito shell, then black beans with diced onion. In a small bowl, combine a quarter cup salsa with a quarter cup ranch. pour over beans. add a few Tablespoons cheese and top with a burrito shell. Bake at 350 until heated through, about 20 minutes. When the casserole is finished, take out of the oven and top with a layer of sour cream and all your diced fresh veggies.

5 Things to Feed Your Brat for Breakfast -Think Outside the Box!

1. Eggos with butter, syrup on the side for some fun dipping action, with canned pears or peaches on the side
2. Scrambled egg with cheese, ham, tomato, onion (Its only takes 5 mins and you can put anything or nothing in it)
3. Uncrustables (I swore to god that i would never buy this shit but if she eats it…She wont eat regular PB & J of course)
4. Cereal with whole milk (she loves the strawberry Frosted Mini Wheats,Honey Nut Cheerios, use what you like)
5. Morningstar Farms microwavable sausage, with Aunt Jemima Wholegrain French Toast (again, the dipping into the syrup is key here)

Those Unfinished Projects

Hooray! We finally got our front door replaced!

We had old, narrow, crusty french doors when we moved in. My husband’s wheelchair couldn’t fit through a single french door, and unlocking both doors was hard. If you aren’t familiar, one door has a regular lock and key handle. The other door requires you to pop a latch at the top and bottom of the door. He couldnt reach the top lock on that door. So it was always unlocked; what a great security feature. My two year old daughter could have broken into our house.

So back to the Hooray! part. We now have a single, regular plain old front door (I mean a 6 panel fiberglass storm rated retrofitted opening device) with two lovely little sidelights. That is fancy front door talk for those skinny windows that go on the side of the door. They were pretty damn expensive, but we had to fill in the extra space with something. We even pulled our very own permit through the city – I said “we”, how funny. Please, if I start writing “we” again, just scratch that and put an “I” in it’s place. Thank you. So, I decided on a door (wood? fiberglass? steel?), the glass windows (impact glass? regular glass?), the company to buy it from and who should install it, and called and scheduled the final inspection.Sounds so easy and simple. But the door installer didn’t have our doorhandles and locks. Apparently the seller didnt have the hardware in stock, ordered it too late, forgot to call and tell me this, so we didn’t have a friggin lock on our door. Gwate bwane powah guys. The door was given a temporary lock until the one I bought came in (it did come in the next day, thank god. Who knows how many people had keys to that temporary lock?

I took my well deserved naptime hours and primed the outside of the door and sidelights. Twice. And then I had to clean up and peel off all the friggin painters tape and shower before my daughter woke up from her nap. That night, at about 8pm, I decided it would be a phenomenal time to put the actual paint that matches the rest of our house onto the door. My husband was home from work, and I surrendered child duty to him so I could go outside and retape the handles, get the paint back out, etc. Well, my daughter decides she simply can not be inside while I am outside, having so much fun standing on a ladder and painting. She shoves the door open and barges outside several times before I yell at my husband, “Hey, what the f*#*, can you please retrieve her so I can finish working?”. It wasn’t her fault; the door was taped so I wouldnt paint over the metal parts and didnt really shut securely. My genious husband decided in order to prevent our child from shoving the door open and wandering outside to visit me, he would lock it the door. Smart, really. I should have thought of that. That way he could sit on his ass and read his investment books and not have to entertain the tot. However, locking the door crammed all the tape I placed over the lock into the lock. We couldnt unlock the door after that. Not with a key, not with the deadbolt, nothing. I had to come in, disassemble and pry the locking thingy apart, then peel off the tape and put the lock back together. Oh, and since I was in the house again, why don’t I just take a break for a while and put our daughter to bed too? FANTASTIC IDEA HONEY! Sure I will. Please, don’t get up for me.

Needless to say, I was painting until about midnight and listening to the Obama/Clinton debate from the doorway. All the while giving my husband dirty looks and huge frstrated sighs.The reason I was in such a hurry to finish the door and make it look nice? My husband’s grandparents were driving down from Connecticut (we live in south Florida…) to see family and would be here for a weeks visit.

And now, over a month later, the inside of the front door still stares at me, with its spackle covered nailholes and bare wood and fiberglass, begging me to paint it. Everday I say that I will sand it while my daughter sleeps, and prime and paint it that night after she goes to bed. But I can only get so much accomplished in the two hour break I get from her everyday. Sanding and painting is not what I desire to do then. By nighttime, my feet ache, I am tired as hell, and frankly, I don’t frigging feel like painting the door. So I will continue to stare and be agitated by my front door. Maybe one day I will finish it. Along with several other little things I have started and not finished.