"I Did It..."

After a few texts/E-mails from people I respect, urging me to talk to E's teacher about the "Junk" comment, I put my big girl panties on & approached the director at E's school yesterday afternoon.

I did not go directly to her teacher because her teacher leaves at 2, to get her son from school and because a large number of students leave at lunch time (noon) they combine the two 3 year old classes.

E only has one teacher because her class is the smaller of the two (shes in 3A, the other is 3B). The 3B class has 2 teachers and some days 3A&B eat together, some days they don't. So I did not want to accuse anyone, as E did not tell me which teacher made the comment. I love all the teachers at her school so it was very hard for me to do.

I personally struggle with the fact the E barely eats (even food she likes). I almost cried while I was talking to the director, because I do not want to be "that mom", but I also wanted to get to the bottom of the issue.

She told me that during lunch & snack times they discuss nutrition and they will say things like "We don't want junk food in our lunches, lets see who has junk food and who has healthy food"

I let the director know that I pack Es lunches with nutrition in mind and do the best I can do since she is so picky. I am not one to waste food so I am not going to pack something I know she will not eat because it will in fact be wasted. I also told her that not only was that comment hurtful to me but that it also makes it harder to get E to eat in general.

She assured me that she will talk to Es teachers and let them know to use different phrases and the situation with E and her eating habits and how hard I am working to get her to try new things and expand her pallet.

I had really bad anxiety on my way to get E & I was anxious all night following it. I feel much better today and I felt comfortable dropping E off. We will see if E says anything in the coming days/weeks, in regards to anyone saying anything about her lunch.

Thank you for the advice & support yall.

... Keep up in between posts, I tweet A lot.  xo-Kandid Kelli

"Picky Eater"

So as most of you know I have the pickiest eater. She was such a great eater when she was a baby. She would eat any of the babyfood I gave her. She never turned anything down.

I waited till E was about 11/12 mons old to start her on finger foods and table food. My reasoning was she had NO teeth and she was terrible at "gumming" it. She would gag and sometimes throw-up when I gave her solids, at 9/10 months, so I stopped. Immediately. Where I think I went wrong was, I feed her solids/table food too late.

Foods she will eat:
Chicken nuggets
Fish Sticks
Fruit of any kind
Crackers or pretzels of any kinds
Waffles
Cookies
French Fries
Sorbet, popsicles, icecream
chocolate
Some dry cereals
Special K protein bars (has to be chocolate) or Kids Z bars (has to be chocolate)
yogurt, applesauce, jello
nutrigrain bars
Cheetos 


Foods she will NOT eat:
grilled... anything (hotdogs, burgers, chicken, turkey, etc)
Lunch meat
egg
Bread
Peanut Butter
Cheese
Veggies
Pizza
Pasta of any kind
any kind of mexican, italian food

It makes dinner time a hassle... food for her... food for us. (yes I tired the "you eat this or you eat nothing" she ate nothing then cried about being hungry- shes not old enough to understand that you eat what I cook or you don't eat)


A typical lunch for her: yogurt, applesauce or jello, a fruit of some kind, milk (she gets juice 1-2 a week), crackers or pretzels and a protein bar or granola bar.  She gets fruit snacks in her lunch on fridays.

I took her to the peds b/c I was worried that she was not getting enough nutrients. She won't even drink pediasure and like drinks. She loves chocolate but NOT chocolate milk. Her ped told me not to worry, she will eat when she is hungry, offer her healthy foods, but if she will eat fruit and not veggies not to stress b/c they see fruits and veggies as the same thing.

He told me to stick with whole milk till she starts to eat better to ensure that she is getting enough nutrients. Girlfriend will drink milk all-day if I let her. Even after her soccer game she was saying no to the juice we gave out for snack and asking for milk (!), yuck! Milk in 100 degree weather. She fussed about it till we got home and she got some milk. Weirdo!

I was worried about her eating habits when she started pre-school back in Feb. I was worried that her teacher would think that I am a bad mom b/c there was no sandwich in her lunch box or it was not the "traditional lunch" but nothing was ever said about it.

When I was on the search for a new school back in Aug I found "the one" and when she was walking me through a normal 3 year olds day she mentioned lunch and how the students are to bring their own lunch. Perfect, now I know she will eat b/c I know what she likes.

That was great for all of 2 seconds because she proceed to tell me how they require a well rounded meal... Protein, Veggie, Fruit & Grains. She gave me a list of foods that children like in those food groups.

I did not have a problem with: protein, fruit and grains but we never hit the veggie category. E will make herself throw-up if she doesn't like something and you make her take a bite.

I was nervous when I sent her to her new school with her lunch but 2 1/2 weeks went by and nothing was said so I stopped being nervous., until this AM.

There was a note in E's lunchbox on Friday:

I cried. I felt like such a bad mom, like I was being judged. 

I already struggle everyday with what I feed my child and if she is healthy enough. I often wonder if I should try food therapy or making her eat what I cook. 

Over the weekend I scoured the interwebz for ways to sneak veggies into a picky child's diet.

I found a ton of recipes but alot of them called for slipping the veggies into meatballs or meatloaf (two things she will not eat) so after quite the search I found 4 that I made work for us:

Granola Bars

before baking

after baking (soo good)

ingredients:

Oats

fresh Blueberries, dried Cranberries

chocolate chips

coconut

condensed milk and a little butter

The way I added veggies to this? I bough some baby food and I added 2 jars (carrots and squash) to the mix before I baked them and guess what? They are delicious and you can not taste the babyfood. Next time I make them I will puree my own veggies b/c I could have used 4 jars and still been okay. She had a small bar for breakfast and enjoyed it.

Applesauce

apples simmering

after adding the spinach/blueberry puree

ingredients:

4 apples, peeled and cored

sugar

cinnamon

water

The way I added veggies to this? I added pureed spinach (2.5c)+blueberries+lemon juice+water to her apple sauce. It is amazing and you can not taste the spinach. It has a little bit of zip. I love it and its purple so I hope E will love it too. 

Muffins

mix w.added babyfood 

after baking

ingredients:

Muffin mix

milk 

How I added Veggies to this?

I added 2 jars of carrots to the mix and they are great. Very moist, a slight carrot taste. E did not like these but we will try again.

I spoke to E's teacher about what was in her lunch so they know there is in fact veggies in there... they are just disguised. E told me her teacher says I pack "junk" in her lunch box... I don't know if this is true but I am trying my best to be  the best mom I can. I don't know if I should talk to her teacher about the "junk" comment or not. I don't want to be "that mom" but I am so self conscious about my parenting. 

I will continue too look for inventive recipes to add more flavors and nutrients to E's diet. Any suggestions?

...

Keep up in between posts, I tweet, A lot.

xo

-Kandid Kelli

"Convo w/a Toddler"

Picky eater doesnt begin to describe E. She has created her own dang food pyramid. I am surprised that the child grows as quickly as she does. During lunch E points at the banana's and asks for one:

Me: Are you going to eat it for real? or are you just faking it?
E: Yes mama
i asked her 3 times if she was gunna eat it
E: "yessssss mama"
Me: Promise emmy?
E: "YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!! Nana!!! [pointing] Peeeese!"

So I open the banana for her, one bite and shes done. I just love toddlers!!

...


photo courtesy Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie via Flickr

While I was sitting on the couch catching up on my E-mails & blogs drinking my coffee. E was in & out of the family room back & forth to her room for more toys.

E: Mama I go byebye [shes in only a diaper bc we're potty training and thats the quickest to get off her]
Me: You're going to go byebye?
E: Yah. Byebye [Walks away & waves]
Me: Wait! Where are you going?
E: Byebye [Walks towards the basement/garage door]
Me: Um excuse me, we are classy folks. To go in public you need clothing missy!
E: Oh [touches her bare belly & runs towards her room]
-I hear the closet door open-
E: Help Mama Help!!!
Me: [I walk in there, She in INSIDE her NONwalk-in closet] Yes dear?
E: I go byebye. Help? [points up]
...


Only [4days] till the reveal of the new NAME & Design for the blog yall. Erin @ MyWayThisTime has been working really hard, or hardly working? To make this great. Hmm. JK. We shall see come Monday, Jan 25. I can't wait!
...

-Kelli-Sue

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