Of Bananas & Bagels

Have you ever noticed how anti-routine children are? Despite the fact that they cry out for established routines from infancy, they spend every waking minute as soon as they can talk protesting any and all established routines for meals, bedtime, naptime, car manners, etc. I know that my kids are happier & healthier when we stick to our routines like clockwork, but that doesn't stop them from protesting the routines in their own ways.

Right now we are in the middle of another breakfast shake-up. Nothing that we normally have is acceptable at the moment. DS wants nothing to do with bananas, or toast, or apples. In fact he has decided that for the time being he needs no breakfast, and will take food and then not eat it. When lunchtime rolls around, he is very hungry and ready to eat, but all manner of tantalizing breakfast offerings are eschewed in favor of playing. I think it's another phase and he will return to the breakfast feast in a little bit (I hope so).

DD is expressing her own preferences by varying her selection every day. We just finished the "same thing every morning" phase, of raisin bran with lots of raisins Mom, which was usually spilled somewhere along the line from the kitchen to the living room. Now she wants something different every day. Yesterday with Daddy at home, she wanted raisin bran again, and consumed two full bowls. Today she didn't want banana, or toast, or cereal, or toaster pastries, she wanted orange, MOM, and not the Minneola tangelo, but the regular orange all cut up. We had one left, and a small one at that, and she would not eat the tangelo as a follow up. No thank you Mommy, I don't want this one, as the bowl of tangelo was shoved back at me. *sigh* At least she remembered her manners!

DS is also protesting being fed foods with spoons. He wants to do it by himself. I don't mind the mess, because it's how they learn--but it is comical to watch him wrestle with a spoon that is covered in yogurt or applesauce and try to figure out which end is supposed to hold the food and how to make it to his mouth. Usually he uses a combination of fingers and spoon, and when he's done it all gets wiped all over his face and hair. Did I mention that we are entering the daily bath phase for DS??

He has also decided that he should be able to drink out of plastic water bottles like his big sister. He will loudly whine and point at water bottles in view, and gets especially worked up when he sees someone drinking from one. So we are starting to let him sip from it, with lots of spills and the frustration of trying to teach him not to tilt his head endlessly forward in his attempts to get more out of the bottle. He is trying various techniques, like licking at the water with his tongue, something that resembles nothing more clearly than a small dog licking at a water bottle! It's very funny to watch, and I have to applaud his quest for more independence.

I keep reminding myself that the whole point of the exercise is for them to be independent and well adjusted adults at the end of this, but I do mourn the small losses which signal increased independence. As a SAHM, it's nice to be needed. I know that even when they are teenagers, they will still need me, even if it's in a different way and they would rather die than admit that they need their parents! Still, every change is a chapter closing. I have to remind myself that there are many more fun adventures in the chapters to come, and celebrate the small milestones. Here's to independence!