Score One For Mommy

Our girls are not good eaters, in general. Laurie can be bribed, but Anna Fair is finicky. So tonight, I told Anna Fair she couldn't have extra chicken or dessert till she ate 1 green bean. What followed was a rather unpleasant dinner with Will scoffing at my efforts.

And yet, when everyone else had left the table and she sat whimpering in my lap, Anna Fair humbly ate two green beans. Success! This may be my proudest parenting decision in history.

And yes, I am rubbing Will's face in it.

Thanks.

Daddy, thanks for coming home at lunch and giving the girls ice cream. And then going back to work. To leave Mommy with the fallout.

Mommy's Little Helper

Laurie has been super interested in helping me cook these days. And I love it. I have sweet memories of helping my mother bake. It is crucial to use recipes that have easy steps. Mashing bananas for banana bread - excellent. Rolling out the dough for Christmas cookies - disastrous.

First Cracker

Anna Fair eating her first cracker, she loves this new experience. If you need a minute, and she's cranky, just throw a few crackers her way.















Though we are obviously to busy staring at big sister to look at the camera.














But I can't blame her, Big Sister has always got something going on.

Applesauce

I ask Will this all the time, "When will Laurie be able to really feed herself? When will dinner time not end with an immediate need for a bath?" Do you think she could get more applesauce on her face? I don't see how it's possible.

I Will Eat It Here or There, I Will Eat It Anywhere

I eat it on my fish.
I like it on my fries.
I smear it with my cereal.
I dip it with my grapes.
I do like Sauce on everything,
I do like it, Sam I Am.

It's No Vidal Sassoon

This is what your hair looks like when you style it with Easy Mac.

More or All Done?

Dinnertime is always an adventure. Times have changed so much from her early days when Laurie could barely pipe out 'kook kook' or 'juice.' Her repertoire is littered with all things dealing with food. Eat, more, all done, finished, cheese, please, thank you, cracker. You name it, she wants to say it. I was so pleased that she was finally learning to communicate and we could know exactly what she wanted and when she was finished. That is, that's what we thought at first. After a few odd conversations with her, I realize, she just says whatever we say. So funny, but not quite meeting our current goal.

Laurie Do It

For a while now, I have been easing Laurie into learning to feed herself with a spoon. Usually, I handle putting the food on the spoon and let her handle putting the spoon in her mouth. Last night, I thought it might be fun to see how she does working the whole process. It was...somewhat successful. If not very entertaining. By the end, Laurie had gotten peaches spread everywhere, she figured it would be just as easy to lick it up.

Speaking of eating, we met my sweet college friend, Sheri for lunch. She brought Laurie some fun gifts, including crayons. Laurie has crayons and markers and bathtub markers already. Never before has she decided to eat them. These must be particularly flavorful. She was not pleased to have them taken from her. Can you guess what color she picked to eat?

Cookie

We've started the habit of letting Laurie have a cookie when she's finished her meals. It did not take her long at all to learn this wonderful new word.

Birthday Cake

She wasn't so sure about the cake at first, but after her first nibble, Laurie fell in love.

I got one word...Disgusting.

Eat

We have been trying to teach Laurie a few signs to help her communicate her needs with us. After months and MONTHS of working with her, she is finally signing "eat." Just in time that she probably will soon be able to speak that she is ready to eat.

I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham

I can't believe how dinner time is changing and yet is exactly the same. Her appetite is definitely bigger, tonight, we ate 3 jars of baby food in addition to cheese, bread, cookie and some of our veggie soup. Laurie is beginning to sign "eat" for us. Always helpful to know. To cute, I hope to post a pic soon.

And we are continuously adding to the list of things she will not eat. In addition to previously despised foods (formula, oatmeal, any baby veggies and prunes), you may now add banana to the list. Any form of banana, banana chips, whole banana, with peaches, with strawberries... The things I do to get Laurie to eat healthy foods. For breakfast, to her oatmeal, I add brownsugar, real oatmeal, formula, and blueberries to make it an acceptable dish. I don't work that hard on Will's food!

Dinner Time

Laurie is getting more and more opinionated about what she is and is not willing to eat. Rather than fight with her over every meal, we have given up cereal, baby food, and even formula. For dinner tonight, the menu called for wheat bread, pinto beans, green beans and potatoes. Combined with a lovely white grape juice and followed with some raspberries for dessert. When she finally finished, I thought she was going to pop.

She loves to crawl under our side tables, I love it because I don't worry about dusting there any more.

She Has It In For Me

Yesterday for lunch, Will and I had tacos and black beans. I always let Laurie try some of what I am eating and she was lapping it up. So, being the wonderful mother that I am, I took some beans and hamburger and steamed and mashed it to be sure it was soft and a good consistency for her. We set up for dinner time and I just knew she would have a yummy dinner! To say she hated it, is an understatement. I am sitting there, staring in disbelief at this screaming child, crocodile tears streaming down her cheeks, mouth wide open so her unchewed food can dribble out of her mouth and down her chin. Seriously? You loved it at lunch! Did you only want it when I was eating it?

We are no longer friends. Daddy finished dinner and got her ready for bed.

But just in case you think she was scarred for life, here Laurie is in her favored jumparoo (as opposed to unfavored doorway jumparoo) later last night.

Biter Biscuit

We have started on the next step in the world of fine dining. The Biter Biscuit. It may be over the moon wonderful to Laurie, but I am not a fan. She could spend all day long chewing on it, which is not in my planner, and the thing makes a horrible, nasty mess. The next thing we need to work on is not smacking our food.

The Girl Can't Hold Her Beverage

Laurie has been oh so attentively watching us drink. She has even started reaching for our glasses. So, the last few days, I have been letting her have little sips from my cup. She drinks like a dog, lapping at it with her tongue. It's hysterical. So, I videoed it today, though it didn't turn out very well trying to keep up with her, hold the camera, and not drown her with water. The gurgling at the beginning is the best part.

To the Geographic Center of the Universe

We took off to Will's hometown on Saturday. It is always nice to see Dicey and Pop, they reinforce the idea that Laurie is the most amazing baby. I think we get an A+ for being on our best behavior. We won't talk about our future career as a plumber.

Then finished off the day with some tasty carrots. Laurie says I do it myself.

More Cereal

By request, we have more moments of attempting to get cereal down Laurie. I can't decide if she really likes it or not. She takes it, but then spits most of it out. If nothing else, she seems to like mushing it with her fingers. Bathtime generally occurs immediately following dinnertime.

Yummy Yucky

For a while now, I have noticed Laurie eyeing us when we are eating, so it was with some anticipation that I prepared to give her the first bowl of rice cereal. Even she seemed to be excited about having her first food. Perhaps she decided that this eating thing is not all it's cut out to be.