“I don’t like it”

A post on another blog that I frequent quite often got me thinking about the differences in the boys’ eating habits and our current struggles with meal time. 

“I don’t like it,” has become the common response to any inquiry about whether Moo Moo is hungry or not.  Half of the time he doesn’t even know what we are having before I hear these four evil words uttered from his mouth.  Over the last few weeks we have had to remove the words breakfast, lunch, and supper from our vocabulary because when he hears any one of them we get to hear: “I don’t like it!”  Don’t even think about putting something green on his plate because it invokes instant gagging.  Fruit-no, veggies-no, meat- sometimes, breads/pasta- usually.  You may be wondering what exactly do you feed this child and the short answer is: anything I can convince him to eat at that particular moment.  The only things that he will happily eat are butter/margarine, ketchup, and ranch (all of these things plain).  YUCK!

Some days he loves a food and the next time we offer it he absolutely refuses to eat it.  This is very frustrating because I never know if he will eat what I fix or not.  Even when he tells me he wants XX by the time it’s ready to eat he very well may have changed his mind.  Moo Moo has a very strong and prominent gag reflex so we must be careful about how much we push, plead, bargain, and make him sit at the table until everyone else is finished because any one of these things can push him over the edge to where he is vomiting at the table (it comes on fast too).  I struggle with making him something “special” or an alternative to what the rest of us are eating because he may or may not eat the alternative.  Yet at the same time I honestly do not know how the kid is able to survive on the amount of food he eats sometimes.  We have recently went to an instant breakfast mix to make chocolate milk to help ensure that he is getting adequate vitamins and such.  I don’t know what to do about this situation.

On the other end of the spectrum is Wrinkles.  He will eat anything and everything.  His recent newest favorite food is lettuce salad but it has to have a dressing, he won’t eat plain lettuce.  He loves onions, meat, noodles, bread, all fruits, most veggies.  I honestly can not think of anything that he refuses to eat.  Maybe his tastes will change as he grows but I certainly hope not!  Wrinkles is always hungry.  It is normal for him to eat as much if not more than Moo Moo who is two and a half years older than him.  I don’t want him to get (unhealthy) fat but I don’t want to keep him from eating when he needs it. 

As I struggle with this eating issue, I am now trying to sort out all the information on trying to implement a “diet” for Dearest Husband to try to combat his high cholesterol and pre-diabetic conditions.  I also need to start a diet as I have put on more than a few pounds since quitting smoking.  I am torn between going on a high (healthy) fat diet and trying to better monitor portion sizes or going to a low fat diet along with portion control.  I just want something to help with his issues and get him off of his medications (like yesterday) and getting me to quit eating so much. 

Who knew feeding kids could be so difficult?  I certainly didn’t- maybe I missed that memo!?!! LOL!  So in case you haven’t guessed it by now- meal time around here is a struggle in more than one way and a source of stress for me.  I am open to any comments/suggestions you may have on any of the issues.   Oh and also open to any yummy healthy recipes you have to share as I am feeling like we eat the same things over and over and over again.

52 Days

52 days Smoke Free!!  Yeah for me!!

Savings to date:  $780 (that does not include sales tax).

The hard part is over, I think.  I don’t think about smoking as often although I still have certain days (like Fridays) that are still difficult for some reason.  ?? 

I am seeing some benefits of not smoking- starting with my asthma is gone.  I doubt the doctor would tell me that yet at this point but I haven’t had any asthma attacks in over a month now.  Awesome!

Ramblings…

Today is Day 3 of being smoke free.  I am especially proud of this accomplishment for a couple different reasons.  First the last time I went three days without smoking was a year ago and that wasn’t really a choice, I was in the hospital.  Secondly I had more dental work done today (one of my biggest stressors) and didn’t smoke.  YEAH FOR ME! 

 Classes start on Monday.  Today I went and bought my textbooks which must have gold hidden inside because two of them cost me over $300.  Craziness I tell you. 

I don’t even know if the classes I am taking are the right choices for me this semester but good luck getting in touch with an academic counselor right now.  I left a message yesterday and today but here I am still waiting for a return call.  I have to get my GPA raised or I will lose my financial aid.  I think this stinks because there are special circumstances…. such as mine.  When I plummeted my GPA years ago I was not receiving financial aid.  It was all coming straight out of my parent’s pockets.  Now, since I’ve burnt that bridge, I am receiving financial aid.  My GPA since getting on aid is a 3.64 (or something real close to that I can’t remember exactly and am too lazy to go look right now).  However my cumulative is much, MUCH lower and if I don’t get it brought up this semester I will no longer be eligible for my financial aid.  Anyway… both classes that I am signed up for this semester are re-takes for me so my GPA should come up considerably.  However sometime since I left college and now… they have changed their numbering system for some of the classes and I am not sure if my re-take will be considered a re-take with the new numbers.  I hope so or at least that someone would call me back to fill me in on this issue so that I can get this problem solved.

Did I mention I went to the dentist today?  It was horrible.  Okay maybe not horrible but it was not something I would mark down as fun.  I survived and my mouth is sore but I know it is worth it.  I had the same thing done today that I had done the end of last year to help with gum issues and I can see a lot of improvement where it had already been done.  So…. I lived through that.

 The kids and I ventured out tonight to the Iowa Caucuses. I love the political process- thanks in no small part to my high school government teacher who encouraged us to get involved by offering extra credit for attending this type of thing.  So I was a bit unsure about taking the boys with me but since I didn’t have a babysitter and DH is working his crazy hours I decided to try it.  What’s the worse that could happen?  I could get there and they could’ve turned me away… but they didn’t and I got to participate.  It was a learning adventure for Moo Moo although I’m sure most (probably all) will soon be forgotten but hey… I guess it got us out of the house.  Wrinkles thought it was funny to see all the people who showed up and was totally into all the commotion going on around us.  I am glad that I went.  I do think that Iowa is in danger of losing our “first in the nation” status so I may have just done something that will never be done here again. 

 Enough rambling for one night.  I must go to bed.