Food fights

Lately I feel like I am fighting three battles a day. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. It's as though Mr. Monk has a short window in which he'll deign to open his mouth and I need to shovel as much food in as possible before the time is up. My heart starts racing and I stress over each bite knowing it could be his last. No matter what he's eating, or how much he seems to like it, he knows when he is done and he is D.O.N.E. Lately, he's learned to take off his bib when he's finished, shake his head and say "noooooooo." While all of this is helpful and seriously cute, it's a little painful when it comes two bites into a meal.

Granted, I know he's likely eating enough between the continuous consumption of milk (still coming from my boobies for only the next 8 days. Eek!) and cheddar bunnies (holy hell, we just discovered these--not sure who eats more, him or me). I still want to him to develop healthy eating habits and also maybe not think that he'll always get five different options for every meal. Since keeping him happy and alive is my primary job these days, I've become quite the accommodating chef/waitress: You don't like these peas, babe? How about some mac & cheese? No, ok, well what about some yogurt? Ok, no on the yogurt, but perhaps you'd like some chicken and rice? I've eaten more leftover applesauce in the past few months than in my whole life combined.

The only thing I know for sure that he wants is whatever I'm eating. Even if it's basically the same meal he's having, somehow he just knows it tastes better from my dish and my spoon. And, he loves to serve himself, which really means serving my legs, the floor and our getting-fatter-by-the-day dog heaping spoonfuls. To my horror, I find myself eating the half-chewed pieces of cracker, bagel, whatevs that he puts in my hand at random points during the day. I remember seeing moms do this before and being completely grossed out. But, on some level it seems less disgusting to just eat it than to carry it around. How did this happen?

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I ate this abc pear when he was done with it:





As the wee one gets less and less wee, he's less and less interested in baby food. We have a few items just toiling away in our cabinets and I'm thinking someone else might be able to make better use of them than our compost bin.

If you're in the Bay Area and have any extra food items, consider donating them:

St. Anthony's Foundation

Family House, Inc.