I Will Not Be A Short Order Cook! and Other Lies I Told Myself...

Greetings from the "House of Sick." After proudly holding a temp of 103 degrees for three days, James seems to be on the mend. Brian and I have been sick too and the day we were all at our worst was like some kind of horrible illness trifecta. I don't wish it upon anyone. Anyhoo, even though James is feeling better, his appetite (picky and scant as it was to begin with) is not quite back to normal. None of his usuals will do and I think he has taken in about 10 calories since Saturday.

Today, after his much needed 3 hour nap, I fixed him a snack.

Me: How about a smoothie?"

James: "ooooh, yeah!"

The smoothie is lovingly prepared with strawberries, peaches, apple juice and whole milk and then presented to the client.

James: "This doesn't feel good."

I taste it. In his defense, it was kind of tart so I added some blueberry yogurt for more "pink" and more sweet. The smoothie was again, presented to the client.

James: "This doesn't feel good. Maybe you should have some." (seriously, he said that)

Now I am thinking maybe he thinks the actual cup is too cold and doesn't feel good so I fashion a koozy around it. Nothing says good parenting like your toddler holding a sippy cup that essentially says, "Murphy's Pub" on the side. Whatever. The kid needs calories!

James won't take a sip at all and now can't stop staring at/playing with the koozy.

Me: "What would you like for a snack James?"

James: "Pear sticks!"

Me: "Would you like pear sticks or grapes?"

James: "Oooh, grapes!"

Grapes are rinsed and cut into choke-free portions and then presented to the client.

James (tasting one and spitting it out): "I don't like these. They are too drinky."

I think this means, "too juicy." Who complains of a grape being too juicy?! Perhaps, by "grapes", he really meant "raisins."

So, back to the pear sticks. The pear is washed, peeled, and cut into strips and presented to the client.

James eats 1/2 of 1 stick and places them to the side.

Me: "How about some cheese and crackers?"

James:   "Can I have the cheese that is not cheese stick cheese?"

But of course. Sharp cheddar is cut into squares, crackers are placed to the side and LO AND BEHOLD... he eats them. Aaaah, maybe we're up to 50 calories now?

Ha! I/we swore we would never do this! But what were we thinking using words like "never" and "always" and "I mean it!"??

This had me thinking about the other things we swore we'd never do:

#1 James will never use a pacifier. The 3 weeks we held out by not giving him one were some of the most traumatic and loud weeks of James' life. We took it away at one year and it seems to have all worked out fine.

#2 James will have one toy box of toys. If something new goes in, something old comes out. Well, we really stuck to our guns on this one if you consider toy "box" to mean an entire room of toys, referred to as a playroom. We really don't buy that much, but James is the recipient of many gifts and they make him happy (and occupied) which makes me happy and there you go.

#3 James will eat whatever we eat, when we eat it. I don't know what I was thinking with this one. I happen to know that James is genetically programmed to be a picky eater. I've heard stories that Brian was a pretty good eater as a kid, but I KNOW I was terrible. Excluding carrots and celery (covered in ranch dip), I did not eat vegetables until well after college. My entire body was composed of cheese and crackers and king-size Snickers for most of my formative years. Did my mom offer all the right things? You bet, but I wasn't having any of it. I bet she was saying (as she paid for the CostCo size box of Snickers), "I swore I'd never do this..."