By: Revanche

My kid and notes from Year 2.4

July 12, 2017

Books, books, everywhere

Did you know that some daycares let kids take books with them to their napping cots? Ours does and now JuggerBaby has to take a book, or five, to bed with zir every night.

We’ve had to set a hard limit of 2 small books for the bed lest ze fall asleep perched atop a mountain of all the books ze can carry.

Helper monkey

Amidst a really hard weekend of meltdowns, JuggerBaby turned into a most helpful creature. Once summer rolls in, Seamus’s allergies flare up, every single year and he requires twice daily feet wraps to ward off infection, calm his hot spots, and relieve his itching. It’s pathetic. This summer, though, his human sibling didn’t just try to horn in on the foot wrapping “fun” like last year when ze demanded I “yap feet!” for zir to look just like Brother. This year, ze is more advanced and less self centered. When ze spotted me closely examining his feet, ze loudly announced that Brother had “ows!” and ran to bring me the first aid kit, his treats, and generally made zirself useful by hovering closely and giving him treats as I worked. 

I wouldn’t go so far as to say he appreciated it but he didn’t hate the treats. 

Just one bite

JuggerBaby still has terrible table manners – frequently trying to steal off PiC’s plate; depositing rinds, peels and cobs on my plate like it’s zir mobile compost bin; randomly overstuffing zir mouth with one food only to chew it and spit it out because you stupidly offered zir something else to eat next. Next can’t come too soon for this toddler. We’ve learned our lesson – never ever offer zir anything new when that mouth is full.

The one thing that’s gone well is ze is still open to new foods and tastes. Even if ze doesn’t think ze will like it at first, occasionally refusing foods on the basis of I don’t wanna, ze is still willing to give anything a single bite trial. We tell zir often: just try one bite. If you don’t like it, then swallow that bite but you don’t have to eat any more.

I’m positive that wouldn’t have worked on me, but it’s perfect for zir. Ze has often rejected food out of hand, mostly out of pique. The dawning realization that this pancake/salmon/pickle is awesome is followed by a delighted “I LIKE it!!!”

Success.

Perhaps my proudest moment was serving a totally new dinner of grilled salmon, rice with mixed veggies, and broccolini the other night. Ze has eaten all these food types before but I’ve never served this meal. With zero fuss over the food, ze cleaned zir plate and asked to try the arugula quinoa salad too. Though ze returned a half chewed arugula leaf to me, “I don’t like it”, I can’t blame zir. Peppery leaves? Why??

Ze has come around on the notion of cake, too. Last year, cake was strange and distasteful. This year, we can’t get enough of it!

I wonder if this will be consistent into zir older years. I recall being very adventurous when I didn’t know better, eating fertilized eggs and jellyfish and other interesting native culture foods. Never durian, though, that stuff is a taunt from hell. As an adult, though, I’ve had to actively push myself to try new things like beets and kale and parsnips, or give previously despised foods a chance like yogurt and tomatoes. 

Precious #parenting moments

  • JB: I want yoom.
    Me: Broom?
    JB: Ya. Yooom.
  • Me: Did you just suck the butter off the green bean, then give it back???
    JB: Yes!
    Me: …… just … go.
    JB: JUST GOOOOO!!!
  • From across the room: *thunk* Ow. *thunk* Ow. *thunk* Ow. *thunk* Ow. *thunk* Ow. *thunk* Ow.
    Me: JB?
    JB: Mama?
    Me: Stop hitting yourself?
    JB: *thunk*
  • PiC: Want to share a banana?
    JB: Yes!
    PiC: Here. Have a bite.
    JB: My ‘nana. Dadda get own ‘nana.
  • Me: Go wash your hands.
    JB: I wait my toon.
    Me: ? It is your turn.
    JB: MAMA WASH, I WAIT TURN!

:: How was your palate as a kid? Is it better or worse in adulthood? 

8 Responses to “My kid and notes from Year 2.4”

  1. Lol, thanks for sharing! My kid (1.5 years old) will try most stuff as well, but won’t stick with it if he doesn’t like it. He’s fairly curious though, which I imagine is like most babies, so we’re trying to get him exposed to as many different foods and cultures as possible. A bit sad though for me, as a Korean, that he has some difficulty with spicier fare. Granted he’s a baby, but even when we water it down like crazy. I remember when I was his age, my grandma used to wrap rice in kimchi for me to eat. And fermented soybean paste soup which is a korean delicacy. And it can get spicy since often people put diced red pepper or jabenero-like stuff in it.
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    • Revanche says:

      What I found was interesting at that age was that JB was willing to eat ANYTHING but like your son, wouldn’t necessarily eat it again the next day. But that didn’t mean that ze wouldn’t ever eat it again, just try again in a few days or so. We’re training JB on Korean and Thai spices in hopes zir palate will be better than mine. Mine is probably more like your son’s πŸ˜‰

      Give him time!

  2. I love your JB updates. It reminds me how delightful toddlers can be, especially when they are someone else’s πŸ™‚

    Oh, we still use the one bite rule, with similar reactions, and Little Bit’s seven. It’s still up and down, but she discovered last week she likes chicken livers (I won’t eat those. I’ve tried them, and tried them again last week.) And we still get “I just don’t like it,” followed by “Okay, I do like it.” Tastes change. Spicier food is slowly becoming more acceptable, as are plenty of veggies.
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    • Revanche says:

      Mine can be infuriating but I still like that I get to keep this kid. That’s the total opposite of how I felt when I was younger – back then, I liked being able to return them.

      Here’s to more veggies!

  3. @_@ Banana!

    I was probably equally selective about food as a kid, though my tastes have changed a bit. I remember the first time I had a piece of cake that was too sweet and being like, “I guess this means I’m old now.”

  4. SP says:

    I love these updates – JB is so funny!
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  5. Chortle! This kidlet is shaping up to be a pistol. Hang onto your hats, Mom & Dad!
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