After a couple of my recent posts, I noticed some changes in my attitude and commitment this week. First, partly because I really want to hit my New Year’s goal, I determined we would eat at home and make good choices. This week, with Al working very late every night, would typically have been a lost week. I normally don’t think to fix dinner if he’s not home. But I knew ahead of time that he would be gone and I forced myself to do the grocery shopping and fix dinner for me and Bethany, leaving leftovers for Al. There may have been a little stress eating this week, but not too much! In the last 19 weeks, this was my 2nd lowest week in point consumption!
Second, I started talking to Bethany about foods that are good and bad for us. The times she asked for a third cookie or more chocolate and I told her no, I explained that those foods are made of sugar and sugar is not good for us, so we have to limit how much we eat. Then when I put turkey and vegetables in front of her, I explained why those things are good for us. She seemed to understand.
Third, we had a huge breakthrough with Bethany and her eating habits. For about 2 years now, she has refused to eat most foods. She loves cheese, tortillas, fresh fruit, granola bars, chocolate and cereal. That’s been breakfast, lunch and snacks for a long time. We have always offered her whatever we were eating for dinner, and when she refused, she was not offered anything else. But to no avail, she’s been happy to skip supper completely. We’ve tried different things, a variety of rewards and discipline. Nothing had worked and we had just let it lie. Then this week on Super Nanny (I’ve only seen a few episodes), they taught a 3 year old boy how to eat his dinner. They simply offered him small portions of whatever the family was eating, told him he couldn’t leave the table until he ate his dinner and used timeouts if he got out of his chair. I’m pretty sure we’ve done this before, but I was ready to give it a try again. So Wednesday night, it was just me and the girls. The day had been great, with everyone on schedule, sleeping normal and obeying well. I cooked(!) turkey, mashed potatoes (another of Bethany’s favorites), and green beans. As we sat down at the table, things were so peaceful. So I calmly explained that the rules were changing and told her that she would need to eat her turkey and green beans before she could be excused from the table. We talked about why those foods are good for us. That night she didn’t even fight it! She ate her potatoes first, of course, and stalled a little, but then she ate the rest of her food! Thursday and Friday were a little tougher, but in the end she ate her food before I was done with the dishes. My favorite quote came at lunch on Thursday. Normally she eats the same combo, cheese, a tortilla, and fruit, for lunch everyday. But that day I put turkey and green beans on her plate and explained the new rule again. She exclaimed “but it’s lunchtime!” Yep, mommy is messing with the preschooler’s routine. But she ate it! Three days and counting!
