Having two stepkiddos who when they are with their bio-mom do not get 3 substantial meals a day usually end up going into starvation mode from what I have observed over the past 2.5 years. So that means when they get to our house where we provide them with breakfast, lunch, dinner, AND a snack, they don't know what to expect. Two things usually happen: A) they eat 2-3 plates full of full, they can out eat a grown man or B) they pick and prod the food like it's diseased and make up excuses as to why they don't want to eat. I try to find the humor that before dinner they are saying that they are STARVING and once we sit down to eat boom nothing. I don't want to touch this food with a ten foot pole. Now, here's something about me...I love to cook. I love making stuff that I KNOW the kids will eat and eat really well. I don't make small meals, so when it's just D and I there are usually leftovers that I can pack for lunch. Getting creative with meals when they are in the finicky moods is becoming more of a chore and a hassle. I'm trying to be sympathetic as to where they are coming from, but at the same time it's so frustrating! You want them to eat well and you want them to get good food into their bellies, not just junk food. We aren't the type of people who load our grocery carts down with sugary things. We will let them choose 1 thing that is a reward each time we go to the grocery, but we do buy a lot of fruits and veggies for them to snack on.
When the kids got up here both of them ate really well for a few days. Then the struggle began. First it was T. I made her favorite meal, homemade chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. She sat there and picked at the soup and then didn't eat anymore. This is a dish that I know this child will devour! I've seen her eat 3-4 bowls and still be hungry. We got her over that pouting phase and since then she's been eating decent. Now M has been more of a struggle since she got up here. She's normally my good eater and will generally not leave anything behind. Since February, something has happened and she now has in her brain that potatoes are not good.
I got a small stomach bug after we went to the ballpark on a Thursday. I was sick on Friday and Dustin on Saturday. I thought we were in the clear until M kept saying that she wasn't hungry. We were treated to Cheddars, a place that everyone really enjoys because of the variety. M got her chicken fingers and she did not want anything to do with it. What was going on. We let it go and didn't think much of it. She was probably hot and tired. We had been to the park where we went walking and both kids got to run around for a while.
Monday was a new day. It was Memorial Day and we were going to meet up with my mom so she could spoil the kids and get them new clothes. This is a whole segment in itself. Neither one of the kids were hungry when they both woke up, so I packed some snacks so they could eat a pecan roll on the way to meet mom. We shopped till their little hearts were about to explode. They were so proud of all of their new threads. (Is it cool to say threads? No? Dang!)
Mom treated us to lunch at Steak N Shake. Another place where M would normally eat, but all she did was pick at a grilled cheese sandwich. The same pattern continued for the next 3 days. FIVE DAYS of hardly any food. This began to really freak me out. I was calling mom, D was calling his mom, I was looking at poop. Yes, not my proudest moment, but I did. Google is a bad bad thing to have. I began reading all these things about possible things that could be wrong. Anxiety party for 1?
I broke down to my therapist and she reassured me that it was probably just a phase and that she will eat when she's hungry. Sure enough that night I made spaghetti. Two plates and two pieces of garlic bread. I wanted to jump and scream and do cartwheels over the excitement of her finally eating.
So now that she's been eating regularly, my anxiety level can go back to normal. We are still putting up a strong fight as to why she has something against eating potatoes. I made a pork roast with potatoes in the crock pot yesterday for dinner. Didn't add any thing but a little bit of pepper to the water. All she wanted to eat was the pork. I made myself some carrots, because I'm the only one who will eat cooked carrots in my household. I put two small potato pieces on her plate. I think it may have equaled a half of a small russet. She doctored it up with all the fixins': butter, salt, pepper, sour cream. And nothing. She was thinking that if she put all this stuff on her potatoes that we wouldn't make her eat them. D wasn't having it. I had cleared my plate and began on the dishes. M continued to sit at the table. By the time I returned to the table she was in tears. She didn't want potatoes.
The only thing that I can think of doing at this point is to have her in the kitchen every night when I cook so she can see everything that I put in the food. Otherwise I don't know what else I'm going to do. Suggestions anyone?
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