Parmesan Secret

You've heard me talk about the struggle to get Rachel to eat vegetables and meats. This evening I think I've started to crack the secret to getting her to eat something green.

Jason's currently in England so it's just the two of us. And normally when it's just the two of us, I'm not overly excited to cook. Even when Jason is home our evening meal typically is simple but healthy...mostly just a meat and a vegetable. So tonight as I tried to just throw something together I came across one of the boxes of veggies I had in the freezer: Asparagus Cuts. I cringed inwardly then decided oh well, if she doesn't eat this, I can eat the whole thing.

As usual, I set the table and sat down to eat and invited her to join me, which she initially refused. But once I started eating I heard little footsteps behind me and there she was climbing into her chair like she usually does. I'm not sure if it's wrong for us to encourage her to choose to join us, but it sure does make our lives a lot easier since there's no fighting about having to sit at the dinner table.

I had the asparagus on a plate and I gave her a few small pieces of chicken. Then I sprinkled Parmesan cheese on her chicken. She grabbed a clump in her little fingers and made a yummy noise. I pulled the asparagus plate between us and sprinkled some sea salt on it. For some reason she likes to see her food "spiced". So if there's a salt shaker on the table, she'll insist she needs some on her plate. If we have steak sauce or ketchup, she wants some on her plate. (Not for dipping. She eats it straight). It encourages her to eat, so I typically don't fight it. But tonight when I sprinkled the sea salt on the veggies she tried it. And LIKED it. She probably ate a couple of (her) handfuls. She skipped the chicken (I don't blame her, I didn't particularly find it appetizing either as it was leftovers and those aren't my favorite). She also ate some strawberries and finished her milk. I was so proud and so relieved to know she'd at least eating something healthy before bed.

Oh! I almost forgot. I have proof she ate veggies!

And see the lemon wedge on the plate? Don't think that goes unnoticed by her...

Rachel's day care has this newer feature called "Tadpoles". I allows the teachers to take photos and videos of the kids and share them with the parents. Sadly, I can only save the photos that have just Rachel in them and I can't keep the videos. But every picture they do send of just her I try to save so I have them. Here's a few of the most recent ones:

Yup, she's a ham. And I LOVE getting these during my day!

"What's up with all that hair? Why don't you style it?" You might be asking. Let me explain. I'm lucky if I can get Rachel's hair brushed in the morning. There's a little girl at day care that comes in perfectly dressed and her hair is adorable and perfect. I won't lie, I'm kind of jealous. Because Rachel's hair isn't unmanageable or unable to be styled. The issue isn't that. The issue is Rachel. I'll put her hair in pig tails, she'll pull them out. I put in a barrette, she claims it hurts. I move it, she pulls it out. Forget headbands, she'd rather wear it as a necklace. And I'm not allowed to put clips in her hair anymore as they're a choking hazard at the school. Oh, and for my friend Ginny....get a load of this:

Check out the fro she has in the morning! (Oh, and you can also barely see her pig pajamas. Those are her favorite pajamas!)


This past weekend Rachel stayed all night with my Aunt Gail and my Grandmother again. She had a really good time and wore those two ladies out. And as per usual, she had fallen asleep for her afternoon nap about 5 minutes before I arrived. So I had to take this one:

Nothing makes either of those two ladies happier than when they get to hold Rachel. Since she's now exploring and energetic, she doesn't really want to be held much. So when she does get into a cuddly moment, they eat it up. The downside, she couldn't roll over on her stomach so her nap was really short, leaving her really grumpy.

Her vocabulary and communication is starting to expand very rapidly. She uses whole sentences, although there is still a lot of "nonsense" in them. She's also using her imagination quite a bit and there are times I have difficulty following where her thought process is going. For instance, Friday and Sunday Rachel kept insisting something about a frog. I'm pretty sure she'd say, "There's a frog!" So I'd ask where and she'd respond, "I don't know." Something about a frog over and over again.

Then Sunday when we got home we were eating dinner and she kept stopping like she'd heard something and say, "Hello?" pause. Then ask something along the lines of, "Is someone in the house?" And she wasn't calling out to anyone, it was almost like she was talking on the phone without holding something up to her ear. And she'd look into the living room as she did it. It felt a little weird about the 3rd time around.

Some new phrases she's using:
What's that noise?
Where'd they go?
Thank you welcome! (She hears them both used together, so she's just combined them)
Will you help me?
Where's (object/person)?
Oh, there it is!
Stop it!
Eat? Eat? (When she's hungry)
Bless you (when you sneeze)

She'll ask for milk or juice when she's thirsty. She's also very adamant about picking out what she wants to eat. In the morning she'll "order" a waffle or a breakfast bar, which are her favorite right now.

She can identify a lot of animals, some colors and she can count to 10 on her own! (Granted, she doesn't really say one, two three, etc. It's more the cadence of counting and she gets some of the number words right).

She can put her coat on by herself (although regularly puts it on upside down) and she will put on slip on shoes on her own.

She's doing more of the work to put on her shirt when she gets dressed as well.

She (most of the time) covers her mouth when she coughs.

I can tell they work very consistently on "self help" at school and that's where a lot of the above are coming from. I do try to identify instances where even if it's going to be messy or take time I try to step back and let her try to do things on her own.

Our biggest battle right now is teeth brushing. A year ago she could brush her teeth on her own. Then (and this is my fault) we got out of the habit of brushing our teeth and now I'm trying to teach it to her again. She likes to eat the toothpaste (kids toothpaste, non-fluoride) off the brush then put the brush away. She won't brush her teeth on her own and refuses to let me do it for her. I even grab mine and try to show her in my mouth what I'm trying to accomplish. Yet this, just like the veggies, will come with time and repetition. And repetitive things tend to annoy me, so this requires a lot of patience on my part!

Her demeanor is so thoughtful and sweet. Her tantrums are so much less, although she does whine a LOT because people tend to give in to her. I am to a point where I refuse to give her anything until she stops crying and if she doesn't stop I sit her in her corner in a chair or tell her that if she continues to whine she's going in the corner. No more swatting, for which I'm grateful. The corner seems to be daunting enough and rarely do we have to use it. Generally tears only come when she's really tired, she's frustrated from trying to get her point across and I don't understand or she's just two.

Regardless, she's a wonderful kid and I enjoy the little bit of time we get to spend together each day.