Eating Habits

Well, well,well...everyone dreams of their child eating good but do the kids end up eating the way they dream it? I literally stress most days about what to feed Benjamin that it is so exhausting at night I sometimes just end up eating a bowl of cereal. Between feeding him dinner and then packing his breakfast and lunch for the next day I am spent. You just want to make sure your feeding your kid the best you can.

Our child eats OK to poorly. Some days he eats everything in sight and some days he will eat nothing, I blame those days on teething. By far the most frustrating thing with eating is him throwing everything. He throws his food, utensils, and even his milk cup. Me being the clean freak I am it is probably more hard on me then Benjamin, but after some research I came up with a plan. Once he throws something I explain that we eat our food or we use our utensils to eat with and we don't throw it. If he does it a second time I take him down from his chair and tell him that he is done eating if he is only going to play. My mom and grandparents started doing this also and I can tell its working a little bit...and I mean a little bit. Let's hope over time it does work because all the research I did this was the most highly recommended option. "They" all said a kid will eat when they are hungry and if the kid is not hungry they play with it. Guess we will see...

Benjamin goes through phases of favorite foods. Right now it is cauliflower, oyster crackers, and organic pouches. Last week it was macaroni n cheese, corn, and animal crackers. Next week who knows as long as he eats, right? The one thing that is consistent is his love for water. He will choose water over anything which is OK, but he still has to get a certain amount of milk in a day.

The one thing that is getting easier with his eating habits is his communication (or pointing). Just like his father, when he is hungry he is really crabby and nothing will be good enough for him. If we ask him now if he is hungry or thirsty he runs to the refrigerator and he points to what he wants (not really using his words but we always explain to him multiple times to use his words and tries to say it after us). One word he does use is "mor" which is really helpful because then I know that he is still hungry. Now we need to work on is "all finished"...maybe this will get him to stop throwing.

Another thing that he does which is cute is when we ask him if he is hungry and wants to eat he runs to his chair and tries to climb in it...soon he will be tall enough to do so. Here is a cute pic of him trying to get in his chair.