Blythe's First Foods

On September 19, 2014---Our Blythe tried food for the first time.  The video is below.  She had homemade green beans for her first experience.  Excuse y camera work...I had Addison and Caleb on either side of me and I was holding the camera to film and the iPad for Matthew to watch HA!




Her idiosyncrasy is that LONG tongue of hers---she sticks it out CONSTANTLY, especially when she wants a smile.  It cracks the entire family up every time she does it.  Below is just the beginning of what I am sure will be lots of food messes with that funny little tongue.  Love her.

New Years 2014

Matthew worked New Years Day this year so we did not do much---except eat....OF COURSE!

Here's looking forward to 2014....I am full of hope, joy and excitement for 2014.  I have confidence that our God will always equip us and God is always Good.  I am so thankful for my precious family and I am so thankful that God permeates his presence in the lives of my little ones because I fail so much as a mother.  He is strong when I am weak!!  Happy Belated 2014 to all!

Matthew and his mini-matthew....quite the handsome pair if I dont say so myself :)

They tried to play in the snow that day but it lasted all of 20 minutes...it was COLD!

Addison knew better than to ask to play in the snow---she never lasts more than 5 minutes. She may have born in the cold temps but our Southern Heritage must be in our genes somewhere

Traditional New Years dinner---Ham, greens, black eyed peas and corn!

The greens were SO good.  I do not usually like them but I think the apple cider vinegar in there was key

A girl after my own heart---loves corn bread...GRAMMY, this is your recipe!

Be still my heart!

The girls....maybe three girls in this picture including Rhema, who knows!

She wanted a big hug she said!

Trying the greens without hesitation!

HE LOVED THEM!

Thanksgiving 2013

We had planned to have Thanksgiving with our Small group, but because Addison had JUST gotten over CROUP and Caleb was less than 24 hours off fever from his cold (caught from Addison I suppose) we decided to stay at home.  We made our food items for the group Thanksgiving, took them over to the house and then grabbed some of their items too.  It was not our preference, but it ended up being a lovely Thanksgiving.

Daddy started the day with a painting activity!

Hmm...what can I make a mess with?

Admiring Addison's work---as usual :)

"YAY I DID IT"

CHEESE

Making a lion mask

This might be one of my favorite pictures of her

THE TURKEY!!!!!!!

THE TURKEY!!!!!!!

THE TURKEY!!!!!!!

Calebs plate...he was a little difficult as usual but once he tried the sweet potatoes he was in HEAVEN!

Ready to dig in

SHE ATE A TON!

See sweet potato lover!

See sweet potato lover! 

We ended the day with Charlie Browns Thanksgiving---they thought it was hilarious.

They are still talking about it!

Laughing at Charlie Brown

Notice how much Addison and Matthew look alike here :)

Food Strike

I am going to start sharing my experiences instituting the wise series in our family a little bit better going forward. I will probably organize and re-organize the blog labels as time passes, so bare with me. Additionally, when Manna arrives I HOPE I am able to write about not only the newborn experiences all over again but also about the transition from one to two children. With that, today i would like to discuss the topic of FOOD STRIKES.

"On Becoming PreToddler Wise" focuses on ages 12-18 months. I did not know this book even existed and the timing of my discovery could not have been more perfect. During the 12-18 month age babies really begin to start exerting their will...in everything. This is particularly noticeable after they master walking, which for us was not until 14-15 months! Food strikes is one way that children will exert their will.

A FOOD STRIKE is when a child completely refuses a previously favorite food; I mean they will not even TASTE it. When this happens you have two choices:

1. Give in and give your child something else to eat even though you already spent time and thought preparing what you already gave them. Risk? You may create a picky eater. Remember, who is in charge here? You or a one year old? A one year old is clearly not capable of making sound, logical decisions.
2. Persevere by teaching the child obedience (discussed in my experiences below); remember it is BIG PICTURE here. Obedience at the table translates into other areas like SLEEPING for those of you struggling with that :)

Before I proceed, remember that it IS natural for children to begin developing preferences but as you may recall this scenario is about a previously FAVORITE FOOD. Pre-Toddler wise recommends working to feed your child things that they find enjoyable, which I agree with completely. But this does not mean offering five different things at a meal until you finally find something that tickles their ever changing pallet. Use your judgement whether this is a battle of wills or an off day.

Here is our story....Addison loves cream of spinach with lentils and brown rice. She always gobbles it up. One evening at her usually dinner time, she saw them and rejected them before they were even heated up and in front of her; she showed NO signs of illness either. These were all the clear signs that it is a battle of wills.

First we gave her the benefit of the doubt that she was just not hungry yet. We gave her no more milk and nothing else to eat for about 45 minutes. Next we sat her in the high chair in the most secluded area possible, put a reduced amount of food in front of her and we sat at the table ignoring her. She signed all done a million times, did anything to get attention and yes she cried. We stayed to supervise ensuring she did not break any rules (throw her food, pick up her bowl, etc) or choke of course. She carried on for an hour and as quickly as the crying began, it stopped. As if making peace with the food, she stared at it, picked up her spoon and at all of it. We praised her and praised her for obeying. We gave her the remaining components of her meal which she ate gleefully.

I wish I could report that all battle of wills have ended, but that is not the case. She still pushes it, but so far has not held out an hour. Everything we did was at the prompting of the pre-toddler wise book and I am SO thankful we tried it AND even more thankful it worked. Much to my surprise, the turn of events was EXACTLY like the real-life example given in the book.

I have so much more to say on the food topic, but I will continue my thoughts in another post later. I hope at least one reader is encouraged by this story---encouraged that the principles of the wise series do work AND that these small learning opportunities payoff in the long run.