No, Tears for Tuna is not the name of my eco-conscious 80's cover band, it's what I went through the other night trying to get J. to eat a very kid-friendly tuna casserole. Cooking does not come naturally to me so I am making a real effort (and it is an effort) to make healthy meals for the family, so I was trying out the Tuna Casserole from the great "Tin Fish Gourmet" cookbook. J. refused to eat it, said it wasn't the noodles he liked (which is pasta with pesto!) and when told that this was dinner and it was all he was getting, he burst into tears. You could tell he was kind of forcing it, but after a while, when he wasn't getting anywhere with it, he actually gave up and ate the darn stuff! Being lovingly firm and consistent with your child actually works! Who'd of thunk it?
And he actually never knew there was tuna in it. I've learned that less is more when it comes to toddler eating so J. is now on a need to know basis. He eats fish sticks but we've told him they are chicken. He hasn't noticed yet that they don't taste like chicken. It might be the mounds of ketchup he puts on everything he eats. I'm going to get away with lying to my kids for their own good as long as I can. I was in my 20's before I figured out, after being mocked and publicly shamed by other friends who weren't as gullible as me, that despite what my mother had told me repeatedly, there were not "flour worms" in uncooked baked goods, specifically cookie dough, that would make you sick if you ate it. She had just been trying to keep me from eating all the cookie dough.
As for the second part of my title, I believe my other child is going to be my eater. As I mentioned before, it turns out I have been starving the wee baby M. and the milk jugs have not been producing enough to meet his needs. He's one of those kids that watches you eat with frightening intensity. It's like a scene from "Empire of the Sun" when the POW detainees are watching their captors eat opulent meals while they are barely surviving on potatoes and weevils for protein. He just turned 5 months, so we started him on rice cereal and after one bite, he was trying to grab the spoon out of my hand and shove more in his mouth. He's had four bowls so far and cleans the plate every time. He's like a baby bird open it's mouth for worms. So tonight as I was feeding him, I was singing him the Band Aid "Do They Know It's Christmas?" song because he is my starving child. I suppose it might seem shallow and trite to be singing a song about African famine to a relatively well cared for baby who will hopefully never truly know hunger in his lifetime, but he really seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps tomorrow night I can regale him with the far inferior "We Are The World". Sorry, no Canadian content, even though the government does require 30%. I will not be doing "Tears Are Not Enough", although it was better than the narcissistic, god-complex ridden "We Are The World".
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Ooops - Where Does The Time Go?
Has it really been a month? Yes, yes, yes, I know the point of a blog is to update it on a quasi-regular basis, but all aspects of life sort of went sideways so I had to focus on survival and drop any non-essentials and as much I enjoy the blog, it is a luxury item in my life.
Here's what went down:
1) We listed and sold our place and bought another within three weeks. Yes, in this market. The gods were smiling upon us and the perfect buyers fell in our lap. Had they not come along, I'm sure it would still be on the market, or we would have given up and taken it off because keeping it clean for open houses was just about killing me.
2) The adorable baby M. - still not sleeping through the night. Turns out, I didn't actually have a sleep problem, I had a food problem. I was starving him to death. After going out to see Madonna on October 30 (a day that just about saw me check myself into the pysch ward at Lions Gate Hospital due to lack of sleep and house-selling stress combined with lovely but needy children - a padded room and happy pills seemed like a wonderful idea), after having two bottles from Nana, M. slept from 11:00 until 5:45 without a peep. I woke up, looked at the clock, and though he was dead. So after that, I did a little time at the milking machine I figured out that my milk supply was low. Instead of the recommended 5 to 8 ounces he should have been taking in at each feed, he was probably only getting 2 to 4, or less. Which explains why he wanted to eat all the time, all hours of the day and night. We started topping him up with formula which helped a little, but not as much as I would have hoped. I accused Nana of putting a nip of vodka or scotch in his bottle, only because I wanted to do the same, but she denied it. We were just at the doctor today for his 5-month check-up and the poor kid is still in the 20th or 25th percentile for weight. He had his first bowl of rice cereal tonight and gobbled it down like someone who had been lost in the woods for a week with no food. He's been ready for food for a while. He's one of those kids who watches you eat with an almost uncomfortable intensity. Probably because he was wasting away from hunger. I had an Orange Julius today at the mall and he was desperately trying to get it from me. I thought that would probably not be the best food to start him on. Maybe in a couple more months.
3) We all got sick. J. first, then D., then M. and then me. J. is now experiencing hearing loss again from blocked ears, but after a visit to the doctor, we're just keeping and eye on it to see if it goes away. I'm still fighting it after two weeks, but since I never get to rest, it will probably stick around until April!
4) J. turned 4 and I decided that this was the year that I needed to make his cake, despite having pawned it off on various other family members every year prior, when I had only one kid and was not going postal from sleep deprivation. I was trying to lower the bar on birthday parties and while I did in some ways, the Type A part of my brain still got its two cents in.
So I was really focusing on the bottom of the triangle of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and not really paying attention to that self-actualization bit at the top. But hopefully I can get back in the saddle and start doing this at least once a week. Okay, well my big kid who is even less patient than the 4-year old, is calling me upstairs because he wants to watch "Dragon's Den" now. Right now!
More about the new house later. It has a 24 by 17 basement room that is going to be the playroom! It has a lot of other things going for it, but truly that playroom is all I care about. I think about it all the time. It will change my life.
Better go before I have to deal with a temper trantrum!
M.
Here's what went down:
1) We listed and sold our place and bought another within three weeks. Yes, in this market. The gods were smiling upon us and the perfect buyers fell in our lap. Had they not come along, I'm sure it would still be on the market, or we would have given up and taken it off because keeping it clean for open houses was just about killing me.
2) The adorable baby M. - still not sleeping through the night. Turns out, I didn't actually have a sleep problem, I had a food problem. I was starving him to death. After going out to see Madonna on October 30 (a day that just about saw me check myself into the pysch ward at Lions Gate Hospital due to lack of sleep and house-selling stress combined with lovely but needy children - a padded room and happy pills seemed like a wonderful idea), after having two bottles from Nana, M. slept from 11:00 until 5:45 without a peep. I woke up, looked at the clock, and though he was dead. So after that, I did a little time at the milking machine I figured out that my milk supply was low. Instead of the recommended 5 to 8 ounces he should have been taking in at each feed, he was probably only getting 2 to 4, or less. Which explains why he wanted to eat all the time, all hours of the day and night. We started topping him up with formula which helped a little, but not as much as I would have hoped. I accused Nana of putting a nip of vodka or scotch in his bottle, only because I wanted to do the same, but she denied it. We were just at the doctor today for his 5-month check-up and the poor kid is still in the 20th or 25th percentile for weight. He had his first bowl of rice cereal tonight and gobbled it down like someone who had been lost in the woods for a week with no food. He's been ready for food for a while. He's one of those kids who watches you eat with an almost uncomfortable intensity. Probably because he was wasting away from hunger. I had an Orange Julius today at the mall and he was desperately trying to get it from me. I thought that would probably not be the best food to start him on. Maybe in a couple more months.
3) We all got sick. J. first, then D., then M. and then me. J. is now experiencing hearing loss again from blocked ears, but after a visit to the doctor, we're just keeping and eye on it to see if it goes away. I'm still fighting it after two weeks, but since I never get to rest, it will probably stick around until April!
4) J. turned 4 and I decided that this was the year that I needed to make his cake, despite having pawned it off on various other family members every year prior, when I had only one kid and was not going postal from sleep deprivation. I was trying to lower the bar on birthday parties and while I did in some ways, the Type A part of my brain still got its two cents in.
So I was really focusing on the bottom of the triangle of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and not really paying attention to that self-actualization bit at the top. But hopefully I can get back in the saddle and start doing this at least once a week. Okay, well my big kid who is even less patient than the 4-year old, is calling me upstairs because he wants to watch "Dragon's Den" now. Right now!
More about the new house later. It has a 24 by 17 basement room that is going to be the playroom! It has a lot of other things going for it, but truly that playroom is all I care about. I think about it all the time. It will change my life.
Better go before I have to deal with a temper trantrum!
M.
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