Nora has always been an awesome eater.
She did great with breastfeeding. During the pureed food stage, she ate every single kind of puree that we offered her (including sour/bitter cranberries, when mixed with a bit of applesauce!). We thought it was hilarious, because she just took to everything, opening her mouth like a little bird for bite after bite after bite.
Unfortunately, finger foods have proved to be more of a challenge.
I’ve been a somewhat picky eater all of my life. I’m way better now–I’d maybe call myself “choosy” but not necessarily PICKY. However, I would say I was severely picky as a child. My mom always said that she had been a picky kid, too, and that I was her “mother’s revenge” for giving my grandma such a hard time when she was younger. My mom always swore that I would someday pay my dues as well. I thought I had escaped that sentence with Nora, but now, I’m not so sure.
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| Cake was deemed “a-ok” with her on her birthday |
I’m nervous that Nora is developing picky tendencies. But since we’re first time parents, it’s hard to know what to classify as “normal” toddler eating behavior, and what to classify as “picky.” It’s my understanding that toddlers are…finicky?…about what they eat. One day, they might love sweet potatoes. The next, they may refuse to even taste them. For those of you with older toddlers/kids–have you found this to be true?
I’ve also read that babies may have to try new foods anywhere from five to 15 times before they “accept” the new taste. We’ve taken this (and the advice of our pediatrician) to heart, and we continue to offer her things, even if she’s rejected them in the past. Sometimes, we’ll get lucky and she’ll suddenly start to like something! Other times, she simply rejects it over and over again.
Michael and I have been debating with each other whether pickiness is a nature or a nurture problem. Michael likes pretty much everything, and always has, whereas I (as I already mentioned) am pickier. He believes that it’s a matter of nurture–if you’re raised to try everything and anything, and essentially forced to eat what you’re served (or go without anything), you won’t be a picky eater. Based on my own experience, and the stories my mom has told me (about how I would literally gag over the taste of certain vegetables, even as a small baby), I believe there is something to be said for a nature argument.
In all likelihood, aren’t we probably both right? I’m thinking it’s probably a combination of both.
At her 1-year well-baby visit, our pediatrician basically told us to offer Nora whatever we wanted her to eat, and if she didn’t eat it, to put an end to mealtime. She believes that if you set a pattern where you offer something else after your kid refuses to eat something, you’ll just be teaching them that they can always get what they want to eat. And I totally back her up on that–I see how that would be true, and have seen such patterns develop with friends’ kids. Still, it’s difficult to be tough with your 13-month-old daughter who is just starting to try all of these foods, you know? If she doesn’t like something, we’re really supposed to just cut her off?
Nora’s not starving. She eats well during a lot of her meals. But the past week or so, she just seems to be really testing us at dinner. Anything new we give her to try, she takes MAYBE a couple of bites of it, and then launches the rest off of her tray and cries.
Feeding a toddler is tough.
So… for those of you who have “good eaters”–were they ALWAYS good eaters, gobbling up anything and everything you put in front of them? Or did you have to “develop” the good eating habits over time? Anybody with picky eaters that you managed to (at least somewhat) reform?
The other problem is that I feel like we’re feeding Nora a lot of the same things all of the time. Partly because she rejects a lot of new things, but partly because it’s hard to come up with ideas. Whenever we do make a good dinner for ourselves (which is not as often as I’d like right now!), we try to feed her what we’re having, but a lot of nights, we’re feeding her separately from what we end up eating. And for lunches to send to daycare, it’s tough to think of easy things to pack. Our pediatrician said that the more you limit their food choices, the more you are encouraging them to be picky, so we want to make sure to break this habit as much as possible.
For the record (and since I’m anticipating that some of you might ask), I’ll share a list of foods that Nora does eat. And y’all can tell me if I’m crazy for thinking she might be picky.
Nora eats: cereal w/milk (shredded wheat, corn chex, wheat chex, bran flakes, etc.), pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, bananas, pears, peaches, pineapple, mandarin oranges, applesauce (and any other fruit puree), plain yogurt, peanut butter sandwich, grilled cheese, cheese (cheddar, monterey jack, american), sweet potatoes, white potato, pizza, pasta w/sauce, ravioli, macaroni and cheese, deli turkey, puffs, hummus sandwiches, apricots, steamed carrots, avocado
Unless I’m forgetting something, these are pretty much all of the foods that make up her diet. While I know it’s not TERRIBLE, it is really not all that extensive. Right? I think we’re good on carbs/grains, and fruit. Where we’re struggling most, I think, is with protein and vegetables. The girl can only eat so many eggs, cheese, and sweet potatoes. We’ve tried other veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, green beans) and sources of protein (veggie burgers, beans) and she is just not into them–at least not yet.
Any advice? Suggestions for new foods to try to add to the rotation? I’ve mostly been able to stay patient, knowing this is all part of her development, but I have to admit to getting a little frustrated sometimes. Dinnertime in particular has become a bit of a battle, usually resulting in her crying because the food on her tray is not what she wants. I would love to get back to peaceful eating!
I don’t know how it happened, but Nora is suddenly looking less and less like a baby, and very much like a little girl. She has changed so much in the last few months. As we went into the summer, she was still this petite, semi-squishy baby, and now she is JUST SO GROWN UP. I look at photos from June and July and it almost doesn’t even look like the same kid.
:::sobs:::
Maybe it’s those two front teeth?
We took a little bit of time on Sunday to visit a pumpkin patch. The weekend was mostly rainy, but the sun was shining bright for a change, so we took advantage in order to get some photos. Check out my big girl at the pumpkin patch:
The countdown is on. This beauty shall be mine:
Unfortunately, it won’t be mine today, but on November 15. I have to wait until I’m eligible for an upgrade with Verizon. But, considering how long I’ve been waiting to ditch my crappy Blackberry and get my hands on an iPhone, one little measley month is not that torturous!
I’ve had a Blackberry for several years now. I got my first one (a Pearl) in 2008, not long before Michael and I were married. At the time, it was just.so.cool to be able to have internet! and e-mail! on my phone, so I was a happy camper.
When I was eligible for an upgrade again in March 2010, I went into the store knowing that I wanted to get a Blackberry Tour. The sales guy tried to sell me on a Droid, which at the time were still fairly new and not as commonplace as they are now, so I stood my ground and told the guy to get me my Blackberry!
I regretted that decision shortly after.
I soon realized the limits of my Blackberry compared to other phones, and when I started voicing those limits out loud, one of the digital guys at work said (and I’m paraphrasing), “Get rid of the Blackberry. You have to get an iPhone or a Droid.” *BIG, HUGE SIGH* I’ve hated this Blackberry all along, and have been not-so-patiently waiting for my next upgrade to come around. At the beginning, it seemed impossibly far away, so knowing that there are only FOUR MORE WEEKS left with this piece of crap is great. Plus, Apple decided to give me a little present and release the iPhone 4S just as I’m getting ready for my upgrade. Hooray!
Anyone in the same boat as I am, not-so-patiently waiting for the iPhone? Any who prefer Droid? Is there anyone who is actually loyal to Blackberry at this point (seems rare)?
For all of you who are enjoying your new iPhones today–color me jealous.
But not far behind.
There are things that I don’t like to pay for. Well, honestly, is anything really fun to pay for?
I won’t lie; I get a certain satisfaction out of knocking off bills every month–but it would make the process infinitely better if, you know, there was an endless supply of money in the ol’ bank account. But, like most people, I have resigned to the fact that the very reason we work in the first place is to be able to pay for things, so unless it’s an especially “tight” month, I don’t find paying bills to be particularly horrible or stressful. Still, there is one particular bill that has been weighing heavily on my mind, and really bothers me.
Life insurance.
Up until last month, the only life insurance policies Michael and I had were through our employers, given to us as part of our benefits packages. We always figured that at least we had some kind of life insurance and left it at that. But once we bought our new house, with more expensive bills, it dawned on me that if something were to happen to one of us, it would be really difficult for the other person to continue to carry the house and its expenses on their own. And, of course, we have Nora, so we have to consider her financial well-being, too.
In August, we were shopping around for homeowner’s insurance for our new house, and to keep things easier (and get a discount), we moved our auto insurance over to the new carrier as well. At the time we signed on the dotted line for all of that, the insurance agent (of course) mentioned that we should consider life insurance policies. We were a bit overwhelmed by all of the changes and preparing for the closing on the house, so we said that we would revisit it once we were moved in and (somewhat) settled.
In September, the insurance agent came to our house and discussed our life insurance options with us. We were really unsure of what to expect in terms of cost–but I will say that I was a bit shocked at how pricey life insurance policies are. Even so, we knew it was important to have, so we signed on the dotted lines and put ourselves through the screening process.
But now, I just can’t shake the feeling of how much I hate to see that money go out the door every month. I mean, paying for any kind of insurance is no picnic–but at least with health, dental, and car insurance, you actually USE it. Or have a pretty good chance of using it. It’s disturbing to know that with life insurance, the only time anyone will ever benefit from it is if one of us dies. How pleasant is THAT to think about?
I question the need for it, honestly. We took out policies that would allow the widowed spouse to pay off the mortgage, and leave some extra money for Nora. We figured that the policies through our employers (which disappear if we leave our jobs, obviously) would be more than enough to cover funeral expenses, and provide a little extra cushion should we actually find ourselves in the worst situation ever. But now I’m thinking, do we really need THAT MUCH insurance? I still maintain that it’s smart and responsible to have it, but how much life insurance do we really need? Because seriously, that money that is being deducted from our bank account every month? We could use it for a lot of other things.
I don’t want to fall into the “it could never happen to us” trap, because let’s face it–at our age, no one expects to lose their lives. It’s better to be somewhat prepared for it, right? To protect our little family, and our precious little girl?
What say you, friends? I’m interested in hearing from those with kids AND those without. Do you pay for life insurance? Stick with “free” policies given to you through work? Roll the dice without any at all? What are your reasons for going the route you’ve chosen? And if you do pay, are there any tricks to turning off that little voice inside that says “this is such a waste of money”?
In retrospect, maybe our mistake in all of this is that we just didn’t shop around enough. We figured we’d be getting a good deal through our insurance carrier, but we really don’t have anything to compare it to. I find myself wondering if what we’re paying is actually a decent rate. Maybe I should put some inquiries out there to see what we could get somewhere else.
And now that I have sufficiently depressed everyone by talking about morbid life events… I apologize. :)
Well, hell. A week gone by without blogging.
It’s not coincidental that the last time I blogged was last Monday–that was the day before all hell broke loose. Last Monday, our family room project still looked like it was going to be complete by the weekend. Even after experiencing a setback, we were in good spirits because we had busted our asses all weekend, were back on track, and were moving forward.
Then, Tuesday night, things fell apart and I pretty much had a nervous breakdown.
Long, long story, but essentially, we got primer and both coats of paint on the new ceiling before we realized that things weren’t looking quite right. Each joint (the seams) where the pieces of drywall came together was producing what appeared to be shadows when looking up at the ceiling. Needless to say, it kind of looked like shit. Imagine your nice, smooth ceiling (that you have worked SO HARD for), but with shadows criss-crossing their way over it, making each individual piece of drywall stick out like a sore thumb. It wasn’t going to fly.
And at that time, I just really wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Dramatic? Yes. But holy hell, to know that all of the blood, sweat, and tears that had already gone into that room were for nothing was just devastating.
Thankfully, we have great people in our lives, because our friend Pete came to the rescue, spending Thursday and Friday at our house fixing it for us. I am still too scared to proclaim it all a success, but I will say that we’ve put primer and one coat of paint on the ceiling so far, and things are looking much better. We are working hard to try to get the room painted and ready for the carpet guy to FINALLY come to install the new carpet on Friday so that we might POSSIBLY have a real live FAMILY ROOM this weekend. You know, with a couch to sit on. And carpet for the baby to play on. And a TV with a DVR (hooray!). I don’t even remember what it’s like to be able to relax on a couch with a glass of wine. I have big plans for reacquainting myself with that, though.
Still, I’m so traumatized by all of the setbacks we’ve experienced that I’m afraid to get my hopes up. BUT we’ll see. If there’s anything we’ve learned been reminded of so far, it’s that things just NEVER go as planned. Why is that? It is just so defeating. It makes me never want to take on any home improvement project ever again, which is a shame since we have a houseful of them. Maybe it’s kind of like childbirth–I just need some time and distance to “forget” what a pain in the ass it all is before taking on something else. Which is hard when you have a half-finished kitchen project staring you in the face every day.
Baby steps. I’m trying to take baby steps.
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
