Had to recount the morning here quickly:
Ella and Ava are in their chairs. They are supposed to be eating breakfast. Ava is telling me about how she suddenly doesn’t like bananas. Ella if flinging every bite of her food on the floor. AGAIN.
The other evening Scott smacked her hand for doing this and said, “NO” quite loudly. Enough to make her cry, which I guess was good. This is becoming a bad habit, at every meal, and something needed to be done.
Here is what happened when I tried the same tact this morning:
I say to Ella, sternly, “NO. We do NOT throw our food on the floor.”
She looks at me, laughs and throws her cup down for emphasis.
I walk over to her, look her straight in the eyes, smack her hand and say, “NO. We do not do that.”
She looks at her hand and laughs again.
I walk away to ignore her.
Ava from her chair says, “Mommy, Ella is throwing her food again.”
I walk over, smack her hand, “Ella. NO!”
She laughs again.
Ava is laughing at Ella from behind me.
“Ava, don’t laugh at her she is being bad!”
I walk away.
Two minutes later Ava says, “MOOOOMMMMYY. Ella is throwing her food again.”
I do what my sister effectively did when her son was going through the same stage, decide to remove her from the room. I put her entire high chair in the mud room and close the door.
She laughs.
Ava says, “Mommy why is Ella in the mudroom?”
“Because she was bad,” I say.
“Well, can I laugh now?” she asks.
To which I have no response and begin laughing myself.
I go to the fridge to find something to eat myself (finally). A small leftover container of chicken noodle soup from Panera falls out of the fridge and spills all over my foot...to which I let out a loud exasperated gasp.
“Mommy, what happened?” Ava asks.
“I spilled soup on my foot.”
“Can I see?” she wants to know.
Sure. I walk over and show her my foot with the noodles stuck between my toes.
She laughs again.
I post on facebook that I just spilled cold soup on my foot and don’t like the way the morning is going.
Hoping that’s the end of it!
Someone please tell me life with two children 20 months apart gets easier than this?!
P.S. I just went to put my shoes on in the mudroom and walked right onto the rest of Ella's jelly sandwich, in pieces, thrown on the floor.
P.S. I just went to put my shoes on in the mudroom and walked right onto the rest of Ella's jelly sandwich, in pieces, thrown on the floor.
The Beab is a BIG TIME food thrower. I'm not real thrilled about it either but since I have never gone to a restaurant and seen a grown-up person hurling food about them, it appears that people grow out of this odd habit. I try not to stress about it too much. It's kind of funny though. I usually ask her why she just threw her food... and I guess she wonders too because now after she tosses something off her try, she looks at me and says "Whyyyy?". I also try not to laugh...
ReplyDeleteLOL Bethi. Your comment had me cracking up! You are sooo right. I try to tell myself that sometimes, that this is a stage...argh!
ReplyDeleteOh boy Lisa!! What a morning!! I am convinced it is the age range right now. But someday it will be a HUGE blessing to have 2 little girls so close in age. Hang in there! I will pray that God gives you come peace in your day!
ReplyDeleteSarah
Give Ava some good choices for breakfast. If she decides she doesn't want to eat them, then she is done and will be hungry for lunch. She won't starve in the meantime. Toddlers and preschoolers don't need massive amounts of food. But they are more lively to eat if they have some choice and if you only give them a very small portion at a time. They can always ask for more.
ReplyDeleteGive Ella only one or two bites at a time. When she throws some, take the rest away and say, "All done!" Take her out of the chair if possible. She'll figure out real quick that mealtime is over when she throws food. If she is hungry, she'll think twice before throwing again.
I found that you don't want to ever fight food battles with your child because you will never win. Our daughter could hold food in her mouth and not swallow for hours. Not worth it! If you serve good food, let children make some choices and only give a very small portion (a tablespoon) at a time you can head off a lot of food battles and mealtimes can turn into fun family times.