Autumn is now 30 months old. She is what a great book calls an "SWC". This is an acronym that breaks down to meaning one stubborn little $#%#$%!! However, she is also one of the sweetest little girls, and that is a recipe for mommy disaster. Mommy breakdown. Mommy needs a vacation. Alone.
The biggest hurdle by far I have encountered with her is EATING. If you are my mom or dad reading this you know that the time you said "I hope when you grow up you have a kid just like you!!" actually came true and are probably snickering to yourself about this. Well let me tell you, I wouldn't wish a stubborn eater on ANYONE!! She so far has refused to consume:
Milk, unless its mixed with Carnation Instant Breakfast in chocolate
Any vegetable
Any meat, and I mean ANY meat except for McDonald's Chicken McNuggets. She wouldn't even try a hot dog or rotisserie chicken or anything.
Berries
Mashed potatoes
That means her diet is mostly cereal, rice, pasta, and whatever sweets she can get her hands on. I have been at my wit's end lately. One night a couple of weeks ago we had hamburger helper. She wouldn't touch it. I decided that enough was enough and gave her time out. Each time the time out was over I would have her choose between dinner and another time out. She had 30 time outs in a row. I ended up drinking 2 glasses of Cabernet. I rarely drink. The only thing that ended up working that night was to tell my husband to take our other daughter Alicia to the park since she had eaten all her dinner. Autumn promptly ate 4 bites of her dinner (which was all I wanted her to eat) and put her shoes on. You see what I am up against.
Yesterday we had our 30 month check up. I switched doctors in-practice because of two reasons. One, the office I was going to was extremely out of the way and very stressful to get to since I had to go through downtown Burlington coming from Milton. Second, while my pediatrician has always been great, she has no kids and I felt that she didn't really understand in the way I needed her to. For my other two kids who were not so challenging it was fine, but now that I am raising an SWC I need someone who has some battle scars.
I was delighted to find out that our new doctor has a 4.5 year old and a 2.5 year old both girls. Going in Autumn was fine. Then the dreaded weight and height measurement session came. Ever since she was a tiny infant she has HATED getting on the scale. And it always took 2-3 people to hold her down to measure her length. I don't really know why, and I can't wait until the day she explains it to me. Even if I am holding her she still freaks. Weird.
We managed to get her on the scale and got a rough weight of 27.13 lb. Her height however was not so accurate. They had to put down 36". Close enough. But when the doctor herself came in she wanted to try again. She brought Autumn down to the chart in the hallway and had me stay in the room, thinking that probably if I wasn't there she would be more cooperative.
This is what I heard from the exam room: "Ok Autumn, please stand against the wall. Autumn. Against the wall. Autumn. AUTUMN. AUTUMN. You need to stand against the wall. Autumn. OK."
When she came back in she said, "Well, 36 inches it is. I think she's taller than that but its just not going to happen." I admit I was laughing on the inside.
Next she tried to check in her diaper to make sure there was nothing wrong in there.
"OK Autumn, I need you to either lay down or stand up. That is the choice you need to make."
Autumn shakes her head and glares straight ahead. Priceless.
"Alright then, I am going to lay you down. Lay down. Autumn. Lay down. (turns to me) How did you get her to lay down for the other doctor?"
"I usually had to lay on her upper body while the doctor held her legs down."
"Oh." Pause. "Ok then, stand up please Autumn." More glaring and not budging.
"Do you want me to pin her down for you?" I asked.
"No that's ok I will just try while she's....sitting?" Autumn at this point had her abs locked (I am pretty sure no grown up can do this) so that she was in a half sitting, half laying position which was basically impossible to work around. The doctor pulled her diaper out in the front and looked fast which was apparently good enough.
Next we talked about the eating issue. I explained that I felt I had tried what other doctors and books have suggested and that nothing has worked. She said that while I can't control how much she eats, I can control what she is given. Duh, I knew that, but the way she put it made more sense. She also said NO more gummies, period. If a kid is so obsessed with gummies that it is the first thing she asks me for every single morning for the past 1.5 years (since she could talk) that I needed to steer her away completely. She also said to start by giving her just 2 peas and telling her she had to eat just those. Same with meat. Just small bits. I had tried this before but now that she's a little older I figured I would try again.
The appointment ended with her offering to set me up with a nutritionist. I know that's the vogue thing to do: see a specialist for everything. However I don't really need someone to tell me a bunch of stuff I already know just so I can have Autumn reject it all because she's 2. The doctor agreed. I knew it.
That night at dinner I placed 2 peas on Autumn's plate. "Remember what the doctor said? You have to eat 2 peas."
"OK." and in the mouth they went. Then she took 2 more and ate those as well. "I'm all set now Mommy."
She wouldn't try the meat even when I offered her a dessert after. baby steps.
Today I got her to eat 5 pieces of a hot dog by bribing her with 2 miniature marshmallows. "Hot dog is pretty yummy, Mommy!"
I smell victory, and it smells like marshmallows. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is her kryptonite.
No comments:
Post a Comment