Toddler Dinners 2.0
So guess what? All your rain dances for me to get a difficult toddler in the feeding department this time around worked. Ollie is…difficult. The drama changes nightly. It isn’t as much a frustration of what he will and won’t eat as much as him just completing a meal without a meltdown. He isn’t “picky” on taste. Because I can trick him and get him to eat something and he never hesitates. Sometimes rougher textures aren’t his thing which is usually like something fried or toasted. Fair enough.
But Ollie has his own sets of issues, just like any other kid. So here are his for comparison:
MILK!!!!!!!
When we switched Landon to whole milk and a cup, he was a little slow. He would drink just fine but just not a lot. I remember our AHA moment was keeping a sippy of milk at school all day and then giving it to him on the way home. He would get 8 oz in one swoop. We were so proud of ourselves. Well I can say ole’ Ollie Beans does not have this problem. We actually have to regulate it. The minute his feet hit the ground in the morning, he is moaning at the fridge signing milk. I give him 8 oz while I fix breakfast. That ish is gone in 2 minutes max. Then sometimes I give him 4 more with breakfast. I don’t have the calculations from daycare but the same thing happens at night. I actually started giving him watered down juice as an alternate (something I didn’t do with Landon until at least 2). I just need him to get more calories from food. He is fine on weight and such but I just don’t want him to fill up. It is a delicate balance.
OLLIE DO IT
One night he screamed and screamed while we tried to let him pick it up with his hands, tried spooning it, anything…but he wasn’t having it. Didn’t matter what it was. SCREAMS. Finally in a burst of anger, I just threw gave him the spoon. Then he moaned towards the plate out of reach. Kevin put some food on the spoon and he ate it just fine. He wanted to do it. So now my dilemma is keeping Mr. Independent happy and Kevin not going into a OCD anxiety attack. Last night he tried so hard to eat his rice with his spoon. A couple of fails launched rice on to the floor (you’re welcome, Jack) but he was going to do it, dammit. This kid, y’all. It is scary.
The Ole Bait and Switch
Like I said above, it often isn’t that he is picky over the food…he is just stubborn. Won’t open his mouth to even try something. But we are smart, wee one. We know how to get you to open. His favorite game is “BAH” where he and Landon will say this back and forth with shit eating grins on their faces. Exhibit A:
So we get him going and I put the spoon in there. He eats it just fine. See? Not taste. Just stubborn.
Lace Food with Fun
Put the ground beef on the spoon and put a piece of pineapple on top. Let the bread soak in the watermelon juice. SMOKE AND MIRRORS, PEOPLE.
Yeah so we aren’t without problems up in here but we learn to deal. He is perfectly healthy and eats just fine at school. Whatever.
Follow along with my snark filled dinners with the hashtag #toddlerdinners and the ever popular #justFuckingEat on really special nights when they gang up on us with ridiculousness.
ZOMG the milk! My kid is the SAME way. He downs an entire cup of milk before touching his food and I have to slow him down! I hated milk as a baby/toddler/child and still hate it so I cannot even understand this. My guy isn’t too much into juice so it’s pretty much milk or water. He gets milk with breakfast and dinner and that is IT or he’d drink it all day!! I’m amazed at how independent Ollie is–my 2 year old STILL has to be hella hungry to spoonfeed himself.
I have many questions and thanks for you and your blog. I discovered the blog a few months ago and love checking in on your family and learning so much from you as a mom. My son (almost 2) acts similar to Ollie with the milk situation. He will take a cuppy of milk over any meal any time of the day. He is also a stubborn one when it comes to trying new things and strange foods. Anything simple that he recognizes he is usually fine (corn, grapes, pasta, HE LOVES PASTA), but dinners were becoming so frustrating, he needed food substance not just liquid, but he just wasn’t buying it. So when I discovered your blog I purchased some divided plates and gave him selection like you first did with Landon. Then handed him the tray with a spoon and dinners have been much better. He still tends to only favor what he knows and won’t try newer things, but it is a step in the right direction. One frustration I have that I am wondering if you experience as well is when he is done he is done, he will not take another bite, he will cry and scream until he gets down from him chair. He won’t even leave the plate in front of him, he hates it there. He pushes it away or dumps it on the floor. He knows puppy with eat it, so he won’t have to. Well anyway, thanks for your blog!
Awww thanks. And yes, when he is done, he is done. Now he does hold his plate but sometimes that is just he wants me to take it. He will then eat if I spoon feed him. Just like he doesn’t want it there. He starts to turn away and cry…I stop. We do the sign for all done though he is a lazy signer (not like Landon). The big sign when he keeps throwing his sippy over. When they are this little, “new food” aversion is tricky. There are not as many tricks to use (no bribery). I usually mix on the spoon with something he really likes. Put on the meat and a piece of pineapple on top.
We try hiding food in, around, under, others that he likes. But he is one smart cookie. He knows its there. He will stop the spoon from entering as soon as the meat enters, or if it does get through it gets spit right back out. I think out of it all the spitting it out frustrates me the most, especially when we are out to eat in a public place. He just spits it every where! I know he is young and its getting better, the progression is the best gift because he is one smart little boy!!