G and I like things to be neat and orderly. Before kids, our little home was clean and tidy most of the time. Now? I have to remind myself often that life with kids is just cluttered and messy. That’s a kind of mess I’m starting to get used to. (And I only have a certain amount of energy each day. Many times there is none left for cleaning at the end of the day.) Now we have a different kind of mess in our home. An “on-purpose” mess. These are rare in our family. If they do happen, they are scheduled and clean up supplies are close at hand after the proper amount of messy fun has been had by all. Our new messes will usually occur each day in the afternoon while M is in school. If you were to stop by, this is what you would likely see.
Feeding K is becoming a bit difficult. She is very particular about the texture of her baby food and is quite unwilling to eat anything that is lumpy. Interestingly enough, she eats Cheerios and baby puffs quite well, but she won’t eat anything with texture and she has no desire to feed herself anything. I mentioned this to the physical therapist a couple of weeks ago, and she gave us some things to try. K is likely developing some fairly common preemie feeding issues. I’ve started reading about it a little, and she does have a few of the common signs. We’ll try this and ask for more help from an Occupational Therapist if we need it. Until then, K will be painting her face, her arms, legs, hair, high chair, and anything else she can reach every day. And I’ll be getting used to cleaning up another mess and a very happy baby. This might actually be fun. At the very least, I can clean my kitchen or work on dinner while she paints.
makin’ a mess
October 24, 2008 by gjaustin
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Hi Sara – I know you don’t know me but I’m Jenn Green’s sister-in-law and I enjoy reading your blog. I am sure your doctor knows far more about feeding issues than I do; however, I wanted to share that our now-3-year-old son Raymond flatly refused to eat ANYTHING (not even cheerios/puffs) with ANY texture until he was fully 15 mos old. He would gag on stage 2 baby food. I tried making my own baby food but it was very hard to get it pureed enough for him. His pediatrician answered my concerns by saying he would probably one day just decide to start eating all kinds of food. And he did, at 15 months. I think that’s a little older than K is, right? Oh, and he was not a preemie. Just picky. So anyway – hope that story at least made you smile. Carrie
Thank you, Carrie! That encourages me a lot. K is a bit late on meeting all the milestones, maybe eating is one of them. I really hope so!
Sara…I’m just smiling at this blog…knowing YOU, this whole mess thing has got to be a ???if challenge the right word? 🙂 Be encouraged…my girls all have been picky about different things at different times and just when I get it figured out, they change the rules on me again…I just remind myself, “well, at least by age 5 they ought to be eating by themselves and pretty much whatever I give them!” M has turned out my best eater and she was my most picky!!! p.s. you need to hop back on facebook to see more pics of the girls soon!
I’m glad you’re encouraged. I forgot to add that at 3 yrs old (in Aug), Ray is still a little slow on what might be called “independence milestones” – potty training, dressing self (he doesn’t put on or take off any clothing), etc. He does really well at verbal and small motor skills. So, he’s still the same kid that likes to have help with things. Rachel Green had similar eating “issues” also – I think she did see an occupational therapist.