Miles: “Peanut butter! Peanut butter!”
Me: “You want a peanut butter sandwich?”
Miles: “OK.”
Me (after making sandwich): “Here you go, sweetie.”
Miles: “No peanut butter! Yogurt! YO-GURRRT!!”
Good thing there was an article in this month’s Parenting magazine about why toddlers contradict themselves, or I would’ve thought Miles was just being a huge pain in the butt. Well, he is, but at least it’s developmental.
These days, EVERYTHING is a battle with him. He’ll say he wants to go for a walk in the stroller. Then he has a fit when I try to strap him in. Then when I let him out, he goes sprinting for the street. When I say, “You can either get in the stroller or hold my hand” he sits down on the sidewalk and cries. Can you see why we haven’t been leaving the house much?
Even at home, though, the struggles continue. Some days he won’t sit in his highchair or let me put his socks on, or he insists on having two spoons at mealtime. Some things, I let go. Fine. Go nuts with the plastic cutlery! But in other cases it’s not so easy.
Take his dairy addiction, for example. Miles loves nothing more than cheese, yogurt, and above all, milk. He starts asking for milk the moment he wakes up. If I dare, say, go to the bathroom before heading downstairs to get his milk, he pitches a fit. If I forget his milk at meals, he wails, “Milk! Miiiilk!” like someone who’s being torn from their lover’s arms.
And too much milk is not a good thing. First, it fills him up so he doesn’t eat any actual food. Second, it causes him, um, “gastrointestinal distress,” which leads to nasty diapers for Mom and nasty diaper rash for him. I have explained all this to him calmly and rationally. And yet he persists in demanding dairy products around the clock. I once let him whine and cry for 30 straight minutes before I gave in. I’m not made of stone, people!! (His dad, on the other hand, has no problems tuning out his son. And what do you know, Miles stops whining around him. Why doesn’t that approach work for moms?!)
Miles isn’t the only walking contradiction around here lately, though. I also go back and forth daily, even hourly. On the one hand, I’m having a harder time than ever with my beloved offspring. (Not helped by the fact that C. is gone most of the week now.
I try to remind myself of the cute stuff he does, such as: calling oatmeal “eat-meal”; saying “I love Mama, I love Dada, I love baths”; hugging the dog; pretending his pasta is a rocket ship; and laughing hysterically when someone jumps out from behind a door and startles him.
Yes, he’s a funny kid. No, he’s not easy. Yes, I love him dearly. No, I do not miss him when his dad takes him out on weekends. I just hope they’re not going to Dairy Queen.
LAUGH O’ THE WEEK: My SIL sent me a funny e-mail about a 15-step program to see if you’re ready to have kids. An excerpt: “Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems. 1) Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh. 2) Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out. Repeat all morning.”
7 comments:
I have a child addicted to dairy as well. I've never been a milk drinker and I so don't get his love of milk. Must of gotten that one from his father. :)
If the milk is causing digestion problems, have you looked into whether or not he is lactose intolerant. Our market has started carrying lactose free milk. Has all the same benefits as regular milk but with the lactose that can cause the crazy diaper explosions. You may want to check it out.
Oh yes, I remember that stage very well and it is so extremely frustrating!! Luckily, it does pass and only creeps up every once in a while. I wish you the best!
Thanks, Jenny & Robyn! Interesting thought about lactose. I wouldn't think that's the problem since he's been fine w/ milk all this time (except for drinking too much), but maybe it's worth experimenting.
At one point, we thought our son was lactose intolerant, as it runs in my family. We switched him over to soy milk at the time. It turns out that he's not lactose intolerant, but we still use soy milk instead of regular milk sometimes. If it is a lactose problem, I discovered (through my own bout with intolerance) that it's only a problem with cow's milk products. Goat's milk products are fine. I didn't actually drink goat's milk, but would eat goat's milk yogurt instead of "regular", and goat's milk cheese is fabulous. Soy yogurts are good as well.
As for the battles, you have my deepest sympathies. I spent the better part of an hour last night trying to convince my son that the chicken on his plate was the chicken that he likes. I knew he'd like it if he would only taste it, but he refused. Lots of crying, pouting, etc, threats of no television and no dessert - nothing worked. Finally, when he wasn't looking, I stuck a tiny piece of chicken under some rice and popped it into his mouth (he thought he was just getting rice).
"Mommy, this is good! It's so yummy!"
I told him that he'd just had some chicken, and he proceeded to finish all the chicken on the plate. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry...
Same here, Liza. We sometimes "accidentally" get some food on M's lips or in his mouth. Then once he's actually tasted it, he realizes he likes it!
I HAD to say thanks for the 15 step program laugh!!!!
the 15 step program was hilarious. Your son is adorable.
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