Food and Drink

It's been one month since Amelia was weaned, and over two weeks since she last asked about milk. We really are done!

The whole thing went much more easily than I thought it would. The hardest part was definitely making up my mind to do it. I had anticipated fits and tears from Amelia, but overall she handled it pretty well. She probably drank more chocolate milk and orange juice than most doctors would recommend for awhile, but oh well. Maybe she still does. She loves both. But if those are the worst things she eats, we're doing pretty well...

sadly, they're not the worst things she eats, though. I bought her some Oreos today in Walgreens to distract her from "sitting a minute" in the car when we got home. It worked and for lunch she had three Oreos and two pieces of roasted tofu. Small pieces. Oh well. I try to have a fairly relaxed attitude about junk food. Sugar doesn't seem to make Amelia crazy and I grew up being able to have small treats fairly regularly. I think it made me less obsessed with candy than some of my friends whose parents were super strict.

Amelia's eating is still unpredictable. One day she will eat one or two or even three healthy, well-balanced meals, including lots of friuts and veggies, and another day she will eat only rice. Or only crackers. Or only nothing. Last night for dinner she had a sippy cup of orange juice. She chugged the juice, then picked at the lovely plate of food I made for her (rice, beans, cabbage, grapes, cheese--all things she loves (even the cabbage, weird, huh)), and then she proceeded to sit on my lap the rest of dinner time reading the same two board books over and over. Well, I read them. With help.

Another thing I tend to be relaxed about is when and where Amelia eats. I love the idea of the whole family sitting down to eat together at the same time, and we will definitely do that when A is older, but it does not work for us right now. For one thing, Amelia sometimes eats more when she is allowed to wander. I often put her food out on a low shelf in the kitchen, where she can reach it, and she has what I call "Amelia's traveling buffet." Probably not the safest thing to do choking wise, but we stay with her and watch her, and she doesn't run around, just kind of wanders. And no forks. Also, Amelia gets hungry between 4:45 and 6:00, and sometimes she eats dinner before Dean even gets home. It is fairly easy to put together a healthy meal for Amelia to eat that early, but I couldn't make something for all of to eat then, plus Dean and I aren't really hungry that early. And eating with Amelia is stressful. It makes my stomach hurt. Dean and I are hanging on to our peaceful dinners for two for now. While we can.