Food Fight

My baby is not one who lives to eat. He definitely eats to live.

It's difficult to get him to really enjoy food. He will eat it on good days and on bad days he will throw a fit and refuse to eat at all. On the good days he'll eat but won't be upset if you don't continue to feed him. So it's difficult to figure out if he's eating enough. At least he's growing.

I am one of those parents that thinks it's ridiculous to have to flash an iPhone, phone or TV during meals. But after experiencing so much resistance with my own kid, I can understand why parent's do so. It's quite frustrating to see your child refuse meals time after time.

Unfortunately, I do not care for my child for a huge chunk of the day. I can probably be there for one meal. Two if I am lucky. Other people are not as patient as I am. I do not know how they feed Baby Bear. I know my husband definitely pulls out the phone because he is impatient himself. For other's I pretend it goes my way. I can't get mad at those who volunteer to watch him for free in the comfort of his own home environment.

I've heard of different things to get kids to eat. Give them variety. Don't offer them too much variety. I usually put finger foods or rice or whatever on his plate and then feed him in between him feeding himself. That way he can practice eating but still get enough in before getting tired of trying to feed himself.

He will eat snacks. He loves snacks. Goldfish and veggies crisps, crackers, grapes. I try to limit snacks or not feed him to avoid spilling what little appetite he has. I also do it so that the snacks aren't on his mind before I do feed him.

He's definitely not a foodie like his mom and dad.

Sometimes when I come home from work late and my son is asleep I want to wake him up and annoy him so he knows how it feels. But then I remember a sleeping baby = me time and I make my chai and go online shopping instead.

Uh Oh

Baby bear is starting to throw things in wrong places to see our facial expressions and to hear us say, "Uh oh!"

It started when I'd be feeding him at his high chair and he'd throw down his spoon, plate, food, sippy cup. Basically anything that could be thrown. Then he'd crank his little neck all the way down and exclaim. 

Now he started throwing things in random places, like behind his bookcase. Then he looks at me with a surprised facial expression and says, "Uh!" Today he learned how to say, "oh!" 

That really got him geared up to throw everything he could behind the bookcase so he could say, "uh oh!" He'd also get on his tippy toes to make sure it was back there and out of his reach.

I can't believe his is growing so fast. 

That Christmas Rush

I just got done from a shift in the Emergency Department.

Oh my goodness gracious.

Everything was quiet. And it seems as though right after everyone's 5 PM holiday dinner people came in drones to be seen. Head injuries, car accidents, fevers, kids throwing up. It was busy. busy is good. busy means time flies by.

But we were short staffed because of the holiday. Which meant that patients required a little extra patience today. Which also means that the people who come in for a family checkup for no apparent reason should've stayed home and let the real emergencies come through. The emergency department is for emergencies. I'm going to see the most emergent case first and go in descending order of importance.

Your kid has a mild fever but is happily playing and eating and jumping all over the exam room? You're going to have to wait  little longer. Some parents treat doctors as if they own them. It's really frustrating. I don't know why people think it's their God given right to treat others who are helping them like garbage. 

Lack of education, manners, common sense and upbringing I suppose.

image taken from google search

Kitty Cat Pillow Pet

We have a massive cat in our house. She is huge. Her belly rubs up against the floor as she walks. And she loves loves loves affection and attention. Even if a kid pulls on her tail. She'll just start purring and get even more relaxed.

So Baby Bear and kitty cat have become real good chums. I hated it at first because animals ave germs and don't use soap. I still cringe a little inside when he body slams kitty cat. Not because I think he's hurting her. She just rolls over on he back and asks anyone and everyone to rub her belly. But because I don't know where the poop is on her long fur.

Lately he's been lying down on her like she's his pillow pet. I don't know where this kid comes up with these ideas. But he hugs her and put his head down on her belly and smiles. Then he gets bored after 0.2939434 seconds and needs to get up. Only she's so soft. So he puts all his weight on her poor humungous belly and props himself up.

This cat must love him to allow him to do that.

ps - image found from google. Not my kid. 

MIA

I've been Missing in Action lately due to the fact that Im doing a more demanding rotation this month. Coming home late from work, not getting enough hours in the days or nights to myself or family makes for a crabby me, husband and baby.

Life will get better

Fat Momma

Thanksgiving came in the way of my working out because we had family stay over. Some stayed in the basement where the treadmill was  and I didn't want to wake them up in the wee hours of the morning or late at night. Needless to say, my running was on hold.

I'm back at it this week. I even bought new workout clothes. I actually bought them to use as lounge wear as I am not really a fan of actual lounge wear. I gave up on the idea that I will have time to work out and work and take care of baby bear.

But then I realized I will never love myself unless I get back into shape. My self esteem relies heavily about how I feel  and look physically. Makeup doesn't make me look skinny. Running does.

So this week I've been getting up at 5:45 to run. Before my husband gets up to go to his work out. so that I am showered and ready by the time he has to leave and before Baby bear wakes up.  So far it's been working well.

The thing with me is I have to do it every day. If I make a commitment to do something every other day, I flake out and say I'll just do two days in a row next time and sleep in today. Then I never get back to it.

So now I committed to daily runs unless I am at work and can't do it or I'm in a place that doesn't have treadmills or I don't have anyone to watch Baby Bear while I run.

Working out in the morning is the best because I am not tired at the end of my long day at work - physically and mentally. Also it's easier to put things off if you don' get to them right away. Trust me. I have a huge list of things I need to get to but have been procrastinating.

In addition to running I do 100 squats every other day. I don't mind them I just find them boring. And for some reason time crawls by as I'm doing them. Next thing I plan to incorporate is the p90x ab riper every other day that I am not doing squats.

That and a healthier diet.

Re-Play Divided Plates

I bought these Re-Play divided plates for baby boo on amazon this past week and have been using them since.

Why I decided on this product: 
I bought them because they were inexpensive, duh. I also liked the Sugar Booger brand but it was 2-3 times more expensive for one than 3 of these! So I stuck with these because I wanted a few plates and didn't want to spend around 45 dollars for three.

I also purposefully didn't buy any themed plates or ones with pictures because my little man is hyper enough and gets distracted so easily, I didn't want to make feeding time more difficult than it is until he's able to cut down his feeding time.

They're dishwasher safe and BPA free.  The pates have nice deep sides. The plates are made from recycled plastic.

Shape and size:
I like the size of each section and like that it's a "normal" shape unlike the other plates I've seen for toddlers.  I don't know if there's any child psychology or logic related to the hales of some of the plates I've seen, but I was shooting for normal with decent sizes for each section. These fit what I was looking for.

Not Microwave safe:
Now I did not read anything about these being microwave safe, but that's okay with me. I don't keep his food in the plates in the fridge as storage anyways.

Clean up:
So far so good. These are pretty easy to clean. The food comes right off when I clean it after meals. I don't like to let it sit around and dry up on the plate so I have yet to test that issue out. But generally I don't like to let food do that anyways. It's going to make it harder to clean.

How Baby Likes it:
He is doing just fine with these plates. He doesn't have issues keeping the food in the plate, unless he's done eating and tried to turn it upside down. We approve of these plates!

Write About Your Relationship With Food

I have a love-hate relationship with food. It's what I seek comfort in; it's what I use to celebrate with. The consequence of food make me sad and depressed. It's the cause of my weight gain, of my lowered self esteem. But I shouldn't blame food for that.

Food has so many strong emotions attached to it. Food is a blessing and I am blessed to be able to eat whatever I want due to unlimited availability, lack of allergies, good sanitation. I'm not picking up crumbs out of the trash. Food makes me feel grateful. When someone makes something for me it makes me feel loved.

In a way it's also an indicator of socioeconomic standing. What types of food one can afford and eat depends on income. Fresh organic food is more expensive than fast food.

This is not healthy but I cannot say no to food. I love the taste and the textures. Each bite is a different experience. I wish I could politely decline, but knowing I'm missing out on something spectacular makes it difficult.

 I sound like I have an eating disorder. I promise I do not.