Picky Eater

Given our interesting food preferences, my husband and I are not at all surprised that our first daughter is a picky eater. This was evident from the day she started solids. Even on the few occasions that we proffered not-so-healthy food, she always nibbled tentatively.

Then just the other day, while browsing online during a late night nursing session, I came across an easy and innovative idea for our picky toddler. They are called "muffin meals". And the idea is that they offer variety, while limiting portion sizes. This was our daughter's first muffin meal, breakfast on Wednesday:

And this is our toddler eating most of her meal:

Not only was it the longest she had sat down for a meal in a while, but it was also the most she had ever eaten in one sitting. She tried all 6 foods, and finished 4.5 of them! These muffin meals have also forced us to come up with healthier foods, that is, 18 per day! Some parents suggest including dessert as one of the 6 foods, while others withhold dessert until their child has tried 4 of the 6 options. We opted to include healthy desserts such as yogurt or apple sauce. And just three days into this new meal plan, our daughter is a picky-eater-no-more! We will be very pleased if this is not just a result of its novelty...

Energetic after her delicious meal!

Two Little Teeth

Yummy toes!

Our youngest sprouted two little teeth two weeks ago. I was initially relieved. She had been teething since three months of age, as evidenced by hyper-salivation and crankiness. A little after reaching four months of age, our baby started waking up more often, which I also attributed in part to the teething process. A respite from the aforementioned was welcome!

My relief quickly dissipated. Not only does she still frequently wake up, but she has started using me as a teething device. Several times over this last week, while nursing, she decided to take a bite...Who would have thought two little teeth could hurt so much? I screamed on each occasion, whereupon my sweet daughter stopped nursing, looked up at me, and smiled! It's a good thing she smiled, because the pain was enough to consider switching to bottle feeding...

Using her sister's bouncer!

5 Months Old!

First Solid Meal

Turned 5 months old this week
Can roll back-to-front and front-to-back
Two bottom central incisors appeared 1 week ago
Has already started biting her mama while nursing
Just started solids, and loves oat cereal mixed with breast milk
Mama fed her solids before 6 months of age because for a few weeks, she had been waking up more often to feed
Loves solids, but is still waking up every few hours to feed!

Using her sister's new highchair

Chatterbox

Baby # 2 on Canada Day

Just a few months ago, I had posted a blog about our toddler's language skills, or rather, lack thereof. I need not have worried, as she is now a veritable chatterbox.

Her first full sentence came approximately six weeks ago. My husband had just left for work. Our toddler picked up her play phone and placed a call. "Who are you calling", I asked. To which she replied "Papa". When I asked her what she will say to him when he answers, she replied very clearly "come home Papa".

She has been saying some very interesting things for several months now, and has even used language to manipulate! On one occasion a few weeks ago, she purposely tapped her head against the floor. She followed this up with a "poor baby", then ran to me (where I happened to be holding the baby) and said "kiss" pointing to her head. I could not deny her, and showered her head with kisses. She had no doubt picked up "poor baby" from her grandmother, as I am certain neither my husband, nor I have ever referred to our toddler as such.

Much to my amusement, she has also used language to mimic me. Occasionally, and very much out of the blue, she will (softly) hit her little sister, then say "no," as if to reproach herself, all the while pointing her finger in accusation.

On another occasion, I realized just how much her language skills had progressed when she sounded like a broken record. About 8 weeks ago, we met my cousin and her two daughters at a park. We brought along some snacks for our older girls. Part way through playtime, we snacked at a picnic table. The toddlers did not eat for very long before excitedly returning to the slides, leaving some of their unfinished food on the picnic table. A seagull quickly swooped down and grabbed a fully wrapped cheese stick, flew a short distance away, and devoured it. I explained to the girls what had occurred, and quickly covered the remaining food. Our toddler looked stunned, and quickly said "bird, Stella*, cheese." She repeated this over and over again. Perhaps a hundred times. I was hoping she would forget the following day, but that wasn't the case. Now almost two months removed from the incident, she still mentions it, usually triggered by a bird sighting.

One would think that with increased speech would come decreased whining. However, we still find ourselves saying  "use your words" several times a day...

Enjoying a sweet snack at Grandma's

*Name changed to protect identity of child

Pacifier vs.Thumb

Sucking her thumb

Our baby has recently discovered the soothing effects of sucking her thumb. She sucks on it to fall asleep, when she wakes up, and to soothe her inflamed gums. We proffered our cranky baby a pacifier after her 4-month vaccinations, but she wanted nothing to do with it.

Pacifier at 2 years old

Our toddler, at almost 2 1/2, still sucks on her pacifier. Although, on occasion, she mimics her sister and briefly attempts thumb sucking.

I, for one, prefer that our baby sucks on her thumb. Mostly because she can simply suck her thumb (and hopefully soothe herself back to sleep) when she wakes up in the middle of the night. Almost every night of her young life, our toddler has woken us up because her pacifier has fallen out.

The proponents of pacifiers claim that you can take the "pacifier away from your kids", but not so with a thumb! It sounds easier said than done...I do not look forward to the day (sometime in the next few months, I keep telling myself) that our toddler parts with her pacifier.

For now, it appears that our baby has chosen thumb-sucking. And it should not be problematic so long as she stops on her own before her permanent teeth come in...

alveolar prognathism caused by
 thumb-sucking in a 7-year old girl