Picky

Kalin turned into a picky eater this week. Not only did he become picky but his food intake drastically reduced. I had heard that this happens around this age because their growth slows down. I've had a hard time adjusting to his current food intake though. There were a couple days where I wasn't sure if he ate enough good, healthy foods. And that frustrated me. I have to pay a lot more attention now to when he eats certain things (like Cheerios) in relation to mealtimes. And I need to make sure he eats his veggies and protein before he gets a taste (or even a glimpse) of the bread or cheese. Once he sees certain foods that he's in love with, there's no going back to the stuff that's already on his tray. Now, I know that there's nothing wrong with him eating bread and cheese - it's better than potato chips or sweets - but it's a problem when that's all he wants to eat for the day. Besides his milk, I think the only major source of protein he had this week was eggs. He rejected most of the turkey burger, the salmon and all the chicken I tried to get into him. Maybe he's a vegetarian - I'll send him your way, Sarah!! He also started rejecting peas. He'd pick through the carrot and pea medley on his tray and only eat the carrots - then either mush the peas in his hands or drop them one-by-one onto the floor.

That's another thing he's started doing - throwing his food that he doesn't want on the floor. I do not like that one little bit. And being the smart little toddler that he is, he's realized that when he starts doing that, he gets taken out of his high chair and away from the food REAL quick. So when we're all sitting at the table for dinner and he's all done but Kasey and I are still eating, he starts throwing things on the floor hoping that it will get him out of his chair. He's sneaky.

So not only has he started rejecting previously desirable foods, but his little body doesn't need as much. I used to be able to set him in his high chair with a handful (or two handfuls) or Cheerios and some milk while I made dinner and he would still have plenty of room left for a full dinner. Now if I do that, the Cheerios and milk will end being his dinner instead of just the appetizer. I've also had to adjust what I give before and during our late-morning walks otherwise he won't have any room or desire for lunch. So this week's meals have been a bit frustrating with lots of wasted food. I hate wasting food.

In other news, he's getting better feeding himself with his spoon and his fork. One of my tools to get him to eat another bite or two is to give him big cheers and lots of clapping for feeding himself, using his utensils. He loves the praise and will dig right in to pick up more food and show me what a big boy he is becoming.

Earlier this week I noted to Kasey that Kalin hadn't been drooling much the past week or so. The next day he started drooling again. I didn't notice the cessation of drooling in time to enjoy it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the stubborn upper tooth will finally break through his gums. The matching tooth that came in about a month ago is getting big enough that it's noticeable sometimes when he smiles really big and quite frankly, it looks a little goofy not having the pair. He's got 3 teeth on top and it looks a little lopsided.

Today Kalin grabbed my oven mitt (which isn't unusual, he likes to play with it) and walked over to the oven and grabbed the handle. For safety reasons, I'm trying to teach him not to touch the oven or worse, hang on the handle (he's been known to do that). So I turned around to tell him not to touch the handle, but then I looked a little closer, and noticed that he actually had the oven mitt on his hand and was trying to open the oven. I guess he's seen me get things out of the oven often enough and he was trying to imitate me. I just started laughing and then he handed me the oven mitt and wanted me to open the oven and pretend to pull things out of it. I though it was very clever of him.

Last weekend I started something new. Kalin is not allowed to have his pacifier while he is awake. I just got so fed up with it constantly being in his mouth when I knew that he didn't really need it - he just wanted it and if he could see it then he had to have it. So when he wakes up from a nap or in the morning, I gather his pacifiers (or take them out of his mouth) and put them away - out of his sight. There's been some protesting when I actually have to take it away from him but for the most part, he's perfectly fine during the day. Although Kasey and I have noticed an increase in biting, or attempted biting. That could also have something to do with the drooling and teething.

We've been working on climbing this week. He enjoys standing on our stool but has a hard time climbing onto it. It's a bit too tall for him still. He did successfully climb onto it once with Kasey sitting behind him to help him if he needed it. We can't leave him alone on the stool though because he has a tendency to forget that he's not standing on the ground and will either step off the stool or dance off the stool. He loves being taller though while standing up there.

Sarah and Luke came by on Wednesday. I ended up only have Luke for a half hour but we still had fun. It was fun to watch them check each other out once Kalin woke up from his nap. Luke was sitting and Kalin would just stand next to him and they would reach out and touch each other's hands or Kalin would grab (gently!) Luke's upper arm or pat him on the head. At one point Kalin stared at the front of Luke, then walked around behind him and stared at his back, it was like he was trying to figure out who or what this strange little creature was sitting on the floor of his house. I had just recently read that at this age, toddlers have no sense of empathy. They don't understand that what they do can hurt others. Other people are just toys to them - to be poked, prodded, pulled, and pushed. I'm wondering if he thought Luke was a new toy I had gotten for him. At any rate, it was fun to see them interact. I couldn't get Kalin to cooperate for a picture though.

I got Kalin to draw his first picture!! What do you think it is?!?! And yes, it's hanging on my fridge. Those five minutes of coloring time were filled with me saying, "Crayons are not for eating.", "Crayons are not for throwing!", "Kalin, don't eat the Crayons!" We've already had two crayon fatalities. Two broken crayons and we've only had them for a week. I guess I better get used to it!!