Thursday, April 26, 2007

New Mommy Low

For some reason, every day this week when I've picked J-man up from school, he's been grumpy. Not just a little irritable, but full-fledged, whining, pink-faced grumpy. It has been unpleasant, to say the least.

Today was truly the icing on the cake. I got to school to pick him up as usual. When I walked into the room, he was slumped against a bookshelf crying. When I asked "Nina," his all-time favorite teacher, what the problem was, she told me that he wanted the purple sparkly backpack another kid had and he was upset about having to share. I scooped him up, gathered his belongings and headed to the car. On the way home, he intermittedly asked for Nina, juice, trucks and Abby (my mother's chihuahua with whom he is unnaturally fascinated). These requests were punctuated with exclamations of "eat, eat" which normally (and logically) means that he's hungry.

So we get home and I fix one of his favorite dinners--chicken, cheese and peas. With ample supplies of ketchup, of course. I put him in his high chair, put the bib on and give him the tray with his dinner on it. Immediate meltdown. Incalculable levels of whining. I tried to ask him what was wrong and it just escalated. Add to this that I had a completely HORRID day at work and I seriously thought I was headed for a 72 hour stay in a psych ward. I tried everything and then his eye caught a box of Little Debbie Pecan Spinwheels. Only one remained. He pointed at it and said "eat, eat." When I asked him if that is what he wanted, he said yes. Initially, I said "eat some dinner and then we can have it." That tactic failed miserably so, in an effort to save my sanity, I opened it and gave it to him.

All whining ceased and he happily ate the Spinwheel and drank a box of juice (100% juice, but still!). That was his dinner. So I sacrificed good nutrition for my personal sanity. Is that selfish? All of a sudden, I realized I have done a complete 360 from this time a year ago. This time last year, I literally agonized over every ounce of sugar or artificial additive that went into his body. I went out of my way to purchase organic baby food or, at a minimum, all natural products. I viewed high fructose corn syrup as an evil to be avoided at all costs. And now, this very day, in fact, my child consumed a Little Debbie product FOR DINNER. I am horrified, but at the same time, the end of the incessant screaming was pretty awesome. Someone please tell me that this is just a phase....

10 comments:

Bryan said...

I only EVER give him Little Debbie products for dinner. That might be the problem. Sorry. Love, Hubby

TwinMommyLawchick said...

I am so not judging you at all for this! Sometimes you do what you gotta do. Call me a bad mommy too: my kids LOVE French fries and potato chips, about go crazy when they see a pizza box come into the house, ask for MMs all the time, eat enough chicken nuggets to grow feathers, and would eat pancakes with syrup for breakfast every single day. Oh, and don’t forget the final bad mommy end all/be all- they were Formula Fed, for the most part (enter foreboding music- dum dum DUM).

The sad part is, after all this, they STILL eat way better than I do. And they’re healthy and happy and brilliant and creative, just like I’m sure Jonathan is, and Hailey P is, and Sophie B. is, and all the babies I know. Those who claim to be perfect mommies who always do what is perfect for their kids are liars.

Ask Heather sometime about Perfect Twin Mommy who claims she feeds her kids ONLY organic, perfectly balanced health food, but admitted to Heather that she gives her kids UNCRUSTABLES. Oh, yes, white bread, sugary jelly, preservatives, the whole bit. Liar, I say, liar!

supermommysquared said...

I am shocked and appalled. As J-Man's GodMommy I may have to save him from your den of sugar and preservatives. :) Hailey LOVES pizza and chicken nuggets and these are her healthy options. You feed them what they will eat and what will keep you sane. You are a great mommy and I cannot even count the number of things that have jeopordized my kid's nutrition or could have possibly been not great for their development. Oh well, tomorrow is always a new day and there is always an opportunity to some spectacular mommy thing to make up for the not so great moments.

Andrea said...

You know what, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! I think a little splurge (especially for the sake of your sanity) every now and then is just fine. In fact, I think I might need a Little Debbie now- that sounds good!

Janice said...

Since Jonathan and Cameron are the same age, I am also hoping that this is just a phase. My icing on the cake happened today - complete with all the whining - as I was reading your post I thought you were talking about my son! Anyway, you are an awesome mom and I am sure Jonathan is a perfectly healthy boy. For the sake of your sanity, you are allowed to toss out the organic every once in a while and go for the Little Debbies - or in my case, Chef Boyardees - Cameron loves them!

Wendy said...

Love the hubby comment. Do not worry about it!!! Kids go through many eating phases. Not eating at all, eating a ton, loving vegetable, hating veggies. I am not worried too much about it. Kids burn calories faster than we do! Just don't make it a habit. If it keeps you sane on a bad day, go for it. But, when you are up to a good fight, make him eat his dinner first! Just do what feels right that day! :)

Alicia said...

My first born will eat ANYTHING! In fact, today he helped me polish off a bowl of steamed edamame. And he will even ask for something healthy when he's had too much sugar.(Seriously!) So, I always wondered why it was so hard for other parents to get their kids to eat what they served. BUT THEN... then I had Cooper and to sum it up- he's basically had chocolate cake for lunch and dinner today! He's a bit more, um, spirited when he doesn't want the food I serve and some days I just don't feel like cleaning spaghetti sauce off the walls!

Kimberly said...

I definitely use to be all anti sugar and preservatives...and then tax season happened and I realized that a hot dog takes 10 seconds to heat up in a micro-wave!!! And the other day there was zero food in the house so she had waffles (with syrup, GASP) for dinner. Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do...And our kids are gonna turn out fine! Lord think what our moms did with us!

Angela said...

I had to laugh a little. Kory was a good eater at Jonathan's age, but as he's gotten older he's gotten pickier, and most of the time I'm happy when he eats anything at all. I think he's had pumpkin pie for dinner at least a half dozen times ... you gotta do what you gotta do.

DA-TLEW said...

Hmmm, let me see: life's real busy with a kid, but we write mini-novels in our blog posts(?) Who is raising this child??? I demand that you send him to our house immediately! Oh, wait-- you tried that. Hi Jonathan, tell Daddie to get you a Twinkie.