One of the times that Abby is most stubborn is at lunch or dinner time. (For the record, she's an angel in the morning at breakfast...) We often find ourselves reminding her that it's time to eat, not time to throw things on the floor or watch Elmo or Signing Time on the computer. Meal time is for meals.
On Monday while Anny and I were in the kitchen cleaning up and getting things ready for dinner prep we could hear Abby quietly playing in the living room. She was playing with her castle toy, complete with people and a huge dining table.
The one-sided, aimed-at-toys conversation we overheard was:
"Sit down."
"Dinner, sit down."
"Sit, Eat."
"SIT."
"SitSitSitSit!"
I'm not quite sure where she has heard that before...
All of her meal time troubles go away if you give her a cookie:
I love it!! At least you know she's listening! LOL (That picture is adorable, by the way. She's got a great grin!)
ReplyDeleteWhen our girls want to leave the table, they ask to be excused and then we put their plates away. Since Ada is only 2, she gets another shot if she comes back wanting to eat more while Paul and I are still at the table.
ReplyDeleteBut after that . . . well, they won't starve to death from missing one meal!
And I've found that not offering any snacks (especially not those of the irresistible goldfish variety) after 3 or so helps a lot too. But there are still nights when Ada just doesn't seem to want to eat. I don't force it; I figure that she knows what she needs and if I keep limiting non-fruit/veggie snacks and offering nutritious meals, she'll come out OK.
That was just a wild theory until yesterday . . . when she ate nothing for dinner but mixed vegetables. Wow. I guess she does know what she needs!