FFF - Mealtime Fun

As some of you know, Andy had serious eating issues when we brought him home and was in eating therapy for several months. It was rare to get more than 200 calories a day in him from actual food - he existed mostly on bottles of Pediasure and sippy cups of juice. As a result, mealtime became a pretty stressful experience for us and rather than enjoying family meals together, we spent a lot of time trying a wide variety of tricks to get Andy to eat even the smallest of portions.

That's why its so great now when we have happy moments at the dining room table. In a sort of reversal of roles, Andy wants to be just like his little brother and his willingness to sit at the table and at least try many types of foods has increased greatly.(even if he often takes them out of his mouth, hands the gooey mess to me and say "yuck mama, all done."). Don't get me wrong, Andy still has the appetite of a small bird, but at least I feel like my entire day doesn't revolve around numerous failed attempts at getting Andy to A)put something his mouth, B)chew it and C)swallow. Here's some of the new happy faces around the dinner table:

Aidan, our champion eater. The only protests I hear from him at meal time occur when I am not providing him w/food fast enough. He seriously giggles when I put him in his high chair and smiles the entire meal.... ...even when Daddy dresses him in a Met's onsie as part of his sad, little dillusion that either one of his children will choose to be a Met's fan when they are growing up in Cubs territory.

Andy, our newbie to the pleasurable food experience, "feeding" himself ice cream...

...notice I put feeding in quotations, as most of the ice cream was ending up splattering on the table, dripping onto the floor and falling onto his pants (look at the ice cream on his knee!). I was faking a smile and saying encouraging things like "wow, you almost got all of that in your mouth!" or "don't worry, I think the carpet's favorite flavor is vanilla too!", but the little cleaning lady that lives inside my head was screaming "STOP LETTING HIM DO IT HIMSELF!!! So what if you have to go to his school and spoon feed him his lunch when he's in the 8th grade - it will keep you two from growing distant like so many teenage boys and their moms do". I considered it a personal victory that I did not cover him in plastic and wipe up after every spoonful. Yay me.

Addy, former champion eater of my dining room table before Aidan came home. Her devotion to food is quite strong (I think her & I share that gene). In the picture below it is late on Christmas Eve. You can see how even though she is clearly struggling to keep her eyes open and she is too tired to use her fork, she gives up on trying to eat like a big girl and just shoves the food into her mouth using her hand in an attempt to finish what's on her plate before her eyes close...and you know what, she did it! A girl after my own heart :)