This is Sam. He has bright red hair and vivid blue eyes and is almost three. He loves singing, dancing, and performing dramatic interpretations of Ten Apples Up on Top.
Mostly, he’s loud.
He slept for much of his first three weeks of life, lulling us into a false sense of confidence that we could manage two children. Then he woke up, and things hit the fan.
Weeks of colicky screaming turned into months of teething-related screeching. And now, he simply operates at top volume at all times, whether he’s wailing or giggling. In the words of Spinal Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnel, “This one goes to eleven.”
Sam is also a… how shall I put this… challenging eater. This serves me well, because it guarantees I will always have empathy for moms with mealtime issues. I will never, ever look at you with disdain if you tell me that lunch for your child today was the jelly he licked off of his PB&J sandwich.
And because Sam is so loud, these challenging eating behaviors are amplified–and impossible to ignore. He doesn’t just want M&Ms for breakfast. HE! WANT! EM-NEM! FAH! BECKFUST! He doesn’t quietly ignore the asparagus spears on his plate, he rejects them with a dramatic, “YUCK! THEM ARE GIDUSTING!”
In the coming weeks, I’ll be writing more about little Sam–what he’s dishing out to me and how I’m taking it (both the successes and, oh yes, the failures). I hope you’ll stay tuned. It’s gonna get loud.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I anxiously await this series of posts on Sam. I have my suspicisons that Charlie is following the same path. he may not have many words, but he has many STRONGLY held OPINIONS on what he WILL and WILL NOT eat.
I think it’s the second-child factor–or maybe the little-brother factor. They are desperate to stand apart, somehow!
WANT! EM-NEM! FAH! BECKFUST!
This sounds so cute, though I’m sure it’s not so cute at 7:00 a.m.
Nice to get to know Sam better!
Haha- you can’t blame it on the second child, Evan is quieter, but very opinionated when it comes to food. I’ve been known to give him reheated pork chops for a bed time snack when he finally gave in and said that he was hungry and wanted a snack.
One day, I came to pick up Mia from the toddler room and under the heading “What your child ate for lunch” the daily log said….tartar sauce. Not the fish, not the green beans, not the peaches. Tartar Sauce. I consider it a parenting success now that she will eat the heads off of broccoli.
That is a good policy, Megan. Usually when we tell Henry, “Well, we’ll just reheat this meal later for a snack”, he suddenly decides he is actually hungry and eats his dinner! Doesn’t work yet with Sam though.
Ha-ha! You should be proud about Mia’s accomplishments with food! And speaking of condiments, tonight Sam drank the raspberry salad dressing from the little cup that I had given him with his carrot sticks. Drank it!
Yep, you hit the nail on the head, Jen!
Thanks for reading.
That picture explains Henry and Sam perfectly.. love it
Here’s an idea: why not give Sam EM-NEM! FAH! BECKFUST!? Not the whole bag! But a small handful. It would make him feel empowered, respected and LUCKY. Here’s the catch: tell him he can have the candy but he can only have it once during the day. Allowing him to make the choice of when neutralizes a lot of the control struggles – not just around candy – but around “real” food too.
It doesn’t matter when your child eats his candy; what matters is how much candy he eats. This is the lesson to teach.
Hi Dina. I actually tried this yesterday. My mother-in-law gave the boys a box of fruit snacks when she visited recently, and I’ve been doling out a package a day to each of them by request. Yesterday morning, Sam was asking for some and I kept putting him off by saying they weren’t a breakfast food. Finally, I told him he could have them now instead of later–but that he would get only one package of them that day. I figured things would get ugly when my older son ate his after school. But he didn’t! Henry asked for the fruit snacks, and I reminded Sam that he had eaten his earlier. Sam didn’t throw a fit. Finally, success!