Kitty Kat's (lack of) Eating
I can sum it up for you very quickly: she eats cereal, bread, fruit, and yogurt. That's it. Period. No meat. No eggs. No cheese. No rice. No pasta. No veg. No potatoes. Oh wait, I take that back. She'll eat fries. But not skin-on wedges that I make at home, just fast-food kind. And it's to the point now that I'm actually happy she'll eat those, because at least it's some kind of vegetable, no matter how far removed from the original version.
I should back up and say we are NOT permissive parents. We have NO problem letting our children go hungry when they get picky about food. But this girl takes it to another level. We've had to have extra appointments with the doctor/health bureau because of all this, and even they are stumped on how to crack it. Every piece of advice they can give, every pamphlet, every brochure, every everything, we're already doing.....and most of it, Kitty Kat initiates herself! She'll do everything right up to the point of actually putting the food to her mouth. Oh yeah, that step.
For example, here's what we do:
Involve her in picking out food at the grocery store (and she loves doing it)
Let her play/cook in the kitchen with me (and she loves doing it)
Let her put food on her own plate
She insists on having some of everything on her plate
Sit at the table together
Don't make a big deal out of food/eating
Let her 'play' with her food and investigate it
She loves to cut it with knife and fork, really getting involved
Don't give her anything other than what we're eating
Don't put any pressure on her to eat
Praise slightly if she tries something new (not that we've had many opportunities to do this)
Set a good example by what we eat
Don't snack all day long
Don't let her fill up on drinks
Give her a (limited) choice on plate/cup/fork/etc
Keep things upbeat and positive at all times surrounding food
And here's what she does:
Refuses to eat a single bite of it
It's even to the point we've taken her to a homeopathic doctor to try to rectify any internal medical reasons there might be for her not eating. According to this doctor, Kitty Kat's digestive system is incredibly immature (about the level of an 18-month old) and is very tight, so she doesn't feel like eating. The treatment she's given her is to help relax and progress her GI tract, and let me tell you, the days she takes the treatment, things down there definitely progress! We're in the middle of the treatment at the moment so I can't say for sure yet if it's working or not, but at this point, anything is better than nothing.
I can't even begin to describe how difficult it is to have a child that literally will not eat anything on offer for most meals. I don't remember the last time she had a single bite of her dinner (the dinner she insists on having on her plate). We're so desperate, that I'm happy she ate gummy bears the other day because it was a new texture. I was thrilled she ate spicy Pringles because spicy is something new. I nearly did cartwheels when she drank hot chocolate with marshmallows yesterday because she finally got the sensation of warm food in her mouth. Those are the levels of our victories here. I don't care if she eats anything 'healthy' right now, I just want her to eat. Mac-n-cheese, fish fingers, hot dogs, spaghetti, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza, these are the foods I dream of. (to answer your question, she would go days on end without a single bite if she wasn't offered anything she wanted.....and we know this because we've lived through it in the past) Sigh!
Kitty Kat's (lack of) Sleeping
Ohhhhhhh my. This is what's been absolutely killing us the past week and a half. See, one night Kitty Kat decided she was done being in her crib/cot (fair enough, she is two and half) and proceeded to climb out.....by way of the bookshelf, which she then damn near abseiled down. Um, yeah. Even this slow mom can figure out that means it's time to convert it to the toddler bed and put the gate across the bedroom doorway to keep her
The first week, we had to have Mr T fall asleep in our bed and then carry him to his bed when we came upstairs, because otherwise, he'd never get enough sleep for school. (fairly important to mention we have a 2-bedroom house, so they share a bedroom) During this time, Kitty Kat did the following:
* Stayed awake wreaking Level Five Hurricane force havoc until 10:30/11:00 each night despite us removing her daytime naps (which is killing me)
* Yanked every book off the bookshelf, and threw every toy jubilantly through the air (think the flying-toys-in-the-bedroom scene in Poltergeist)
* Stripped herself totally naked...during a time where even the daytime highs are below freezing
* Belted every song she knows, both English and Dutch, at the top of her voice
*
* Peeved that we took out the bookcase/books/every single toy from the bedroom and left her only the rocking chair/footstool, their two beds, and the wardrobe in the room, she moved on to entertaining herself with those....by first pulling the footstool over to the gate to climb onto the footstool and over the gate, then pulling the rocking chair over to the gate to climb onto the rocking chair and over the gate, then starting to drag her whole damn bed over to the gate to climb onto the whole damn bed and over the gate. Seriously! WTF?!?!?!?! ($£@%-ing laminate floors)
* Somehow found her brother's soccer shinguards and Darth Vader Halloween mask, proceeded to wear the shinguards on her feet like shoes, and kick the Darth Vader mask around like a ball. Who does that????
* One night, we optimistically thought maybe she was just lonely without Mr T, so let him back in his bed. He, by the way, had been sobbing every night why he couldn't sleep in his own bed. Too bad the tears didn't end there, because within about 5 minutes of her poking him in the eye, jumping on his bed, turning on/off/on/off/on/off the lights, opening/closing/opening/closing/opening/closing/opening/closing the door, and smacking him upside the head when he was trying desperately to ignore her, he was then sobbing to be let out of his own bed.
Oh, and I should mention, that in the midst of all of this, Mr T has caught whatever bug it is that has literally 30-40% of his classmates off from school, and has been having a sometimes-raging fever since last week, complete with sweat-drenched sheets and no eating and (I kid you not) freaky hallucinations and everything. Big Chief has been on the sofa while I have Mr T in our bed with me just so I can feel his forehead 6-7 times a night, pass him the water bottle/Tylenol, calm down his hallucination/sleep-talking, and just generally make sure he's still alive. And as all mamas know, even if your kid sleeps soundly through the night, you don't really get any sleep yourself during that. This Mama is so damned desperate for some peaceful slumber!!! :-(
We are at our wits end trying to figure out how to crack this challenging character trait of Kitty Kat, too. To be fair to Mr T, he's been amazingly patient about all of this. Well, as patient as is fair to expect of a seven-year-old. I've spent the past two evenings in their room silently reading books on the iPad while playing 'Hall Monitor' to make sure they (she) behaves and gets the $%&@ to sleep. (hey, Granny, this may be where the Kindle app proves itself most useful!!!) Amazingly, it's worked really well. When I'm in there, she's silent and golden. As much as I hate to be one of 'those moms' who let's themselves be a crutch to get their kids to sleep, I'm starting to think half an hour of reading a book in peace is far more preferable to the three hours of soul-destroying Hell doing it Kitty Kat's way.
Phew! That was a lot to vent! More than anything, this was for me to document and remember this particular period in our lives. I know, I know, one of these days, we'll look back and laugh. And let's be honest, the furniture-dragging and Vader-mask-kicking is pretty damned funny already! But I'm tired. So very tired. I just want a house with simultaneously healthy and peaceful children, preferably who would eat the occasional meal or two. Really, I don't ask for much.
1 comment:
I haven't got any magic answers - only wish I did! I suspect her immature digestive system and non- eating are a 'chicken and egg' situation, but that doesn't solve anything. Sorry, but SHE IS a cutie.- Granny Eagle Eyes.
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