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June 29, 2003
June 29, 2003
Who stole my sweet child? I think the lack of outdoor entertainment must finally be getting to her because she has been trying our patience to the max lately. Virginia used to never complain about food (with the exception of the few things she doesn’t like) and now it seems all she ever wants to eat is a PB&J sandwich. I guess it could be worse, she could be demanding cookies! Of course, this doesn’t fly in our household. We don’t like meals to be a battle, but we refuse to be short order cooks. So at breakfast I let her choose (cereal, yogurt, waffles, pancakes, eggs, fruit) and this seems to be the only meal we don’t have a problem with. As soon as lunch time roles around so do her constant pleas for pb&j. I don’t mind giving her a pb&j sandwich, but not every day! Besides the fact that bread is constipating, I think that variety in her diet is good. So I’m learning to be a negotiator. You would think this wouldn’t be so hard with a 3 year old, but 3 year old have cornered the market on negotiating skills. Or is it stubbornness? So this week I am going to introduce a new finger food and hope it goes over well. Breaded eggplant strips with marinara sauce. Keep your fingers crossed that she likes it. As for dinner, well she either eats what we are having for dinner or she doesn’t eat. Reading over that statement makes it seem like we are cruel parents. But we aren’t cooking anything exotic and I try to make sure that the couple of things that she absolutely won’t eat aren’t on her plate (green pepper, onions, tomatoes). So dinnertime is usually filled with a few bouts of crying or extreme whining that she either doesn’t like what we are eating or that she isn’t hungry. We either tell her (in a very calm tone) that if she isn’t hungry she doesn’t have to eat or that what is on her plate is what is for dinner. After 5 or so minutes she devours her meal and in between bites says how yummy it is. I just don’t get it! I guess the key for us is to not stress about it and that we are hoping it is a phase that passes very quickly! It is nice knowing that she is not underweight or mal-nourished so we don’t have to worry if she misses a meal every now and then.
Let’s see what else…or the endless whining. Whining that she can do it all by herself or whining that she needs one of us to do it. I never know which Virginia I will get. She’ll drop her book and then tell me I need to get it for her. Oh, no….you dropped the book, you can pick it up. I’m not your servant (if though it feels like sometimes). I never know if she will want to take her own pj’s off for bath time, or if she will say she can’t do it. I’m sure this is all normal 3-year-old behavior. Her adjustment from being a toddler and entering the pre-school years. Most of the time I have to hide my laughter or snickers because I don’t want to hurt her feelings (which by the way is her favorite new phrase “You hurt my feelings!”), sometimes I have to hide my lack of patience.
I’m not sure if it is because Virginia is stuck with me for so many hours per day, but boy is she a Momma’s girl right now. When Karl got home from work on Friday she told him that he didn’t love her. We were both shocked by this statement. And she only wants me to comfort her. I really don’t mind, but I feel bad for Karl. He really seems hurt by her statements. I try to remind him that it is just a phase, and probably because she has my attention 24/7 and we get to play with anything she wants to play with during the day. If I wasn’t on bed rest we would be out and about and even though we are both going stir crazy, I think that Virginia is loving all the quality time she is getting with me.
All this quality time is also doing wonders for potty training. Consistently now she only wears a pull-up for nap and nighttime. Even if Karl takes her out on the weekends, she is wearing underwear. Yesterday, Karl was the first one up with Virginia and he forgot and put on a pull-up. And 2 hours later when we put her in the bath, her pull-up was wet. She hasn’t had an accident in her underwear in a long time (can’t remember when), so it is apparent that she knows the difference between the pull-up and underwear. I’m still reminding her to go to the bathroom, but if I forget she will just go by herself. For the most part she demands that we stay outside of the bathroom while she goes. We do request that the door remains open though so we can make sure she is okay. We usually get a good laugh (not in her presence) about how her underwear and shorts look after she tries to put them on (inside out and twisted). She has yet to have a BM on the potty, but we don’t want to press the issue since she is still having trouble with constipation. One of these days she will want to go. She knows that there is an ice cream cone with her name on it when she does have one on the potty.
As for our kitchen exploration, we made 2 treats this last week. No bake bars and oatmeal cookies. The no bake bars contained caramel so Virginia loved helping me unwrap them. She never even attempted to try one, I guess because she had no idea what they were. She also loved helping to measure out the peanut butter, chocolate, peanuts and cheerios. She was very excited to try one and when she finally had one after naptime, she hated it. She told me it was too sweet and too messy. They taste like a snickers bar so Karl and I are happy to devour them. A few days later, we made oatmeal cookies. Again she loved to help measure the items, but she hates how loud the stand mixer is. She did learn how to crack open eggs and thought that was so cool. She was actually very good at it and didn’t even get any egg on her fingers; I think I need to ask her what her secret is! I then had her use the tablespoon scoop (like a miniature ice cream scoop) to place the dough on the cookie sheets. She did one sheet and then asked to go play. What was I to do? Force her to stay with me? Oh, well. I’m just glad she likes to measure and dump the ingredients. I finished up the first 2 sheets and then added chocolate and peanut butter chips to the dough. Karl loves plain oatmeal cookies, I like mine full of junk. Virginia doesn’t care; she just likes to have an occasional cookie. I’m actually surprised she doesn’t request to eat them more often, but she prefers crackers or nuts to cookies and sweets. Although her all time favorite treat right now are the 100% fruit Popsicles. I don’t blame her. I find them irresistible myself.
We still have made NO progress on her big girl room. I hate asking Karl to do more than what is already on his plate during the weekends. I’m hoping that with the 3-day weekend coming up that we can get her room ready. I just need him to hang stuff on the walls, haul the rest of the stuff to the attic and then move her bed and dollhouse bookcase. I can move and organize the clothes, closet, and toys. So I think I may have to mention this every day during the upcoming week in hopes that he will want to do that.
I feel like a good portion of this post was me complaining about Virginia, but I don’t want her to read this when she is older and think that she was always the perfect child (as I am sure to forget the trying times). And I really shouldn’t complain because she really is a GREAT and easy child. Sometimes I think she throws in a few trying days just to remind how blessed I am!
If I don’t get to post again before the next weekend, I hope everyone has a nice 4th of July weekend. Also look on my TTM because I will be posting a few new pics this week (after Tuesday).
Hugs,
Katrina and Virginia
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