Battles and Errands

Mondays tend to go one of two ways in our house:
1. Fun Mommy-Daniel time with lots of laughs, play and adventure.
2. Errands punctuated by a battle of wills (usually over food).

Today has been the second kind of day.  It's 2 o'clock (nap time) and I'm exhausted.  It started at 5:30a when Daniel awoke crying.  Jarl brought him to bed with us where he (eventually) slept.  Though he would wake occasionally to tell me Tashi was on the bed or the next door neighbor's door is yellow or that he wanted eggs for breakfast.

At 8:30 I let myself be dragged from bed and confirmed that Daniel would like eggs and oranges for breakfast.  I scrambled an egg, peeled a clementine, made tea and toast for myself.  Daniel saw the toast and asked for red jelly.  So, I made him a piece with strawberry jam.

We sat down and the battle began.  Daniel didn't want to get in his high chair which isn't rare these days but is also a sign that he won't be eating much.  He drank his juice and ignored the food on his plate.  I asked that he take 5 bites before we called it quits.  He ate a section of clementine which I counted as a bite.  The egg that he'd been asking for since bedtime the night before? Shunned.  Toast slathered in butter and strawberry jam?  Eschewed.

After 20 minutes of cajoling, I lowered my expectations.  "One bite and you can get down."  Oh no.  This was a moral issue at this point.  I tried to make a game of it.  "I bet you can eat one bite of egg before I finish all these pieces of orange."  I explained that all the fun stuff ("grocery store. french fries. beans and rice place. mommy's car.") he was rattling off was out of reach until he ate one bite.  His reply? "Done."

I was angry.  I was tired, needed a shower and had to get to the grocery store for a few things but had painted myself in a corner.  We couldn't even go to the grocery store until he ate one bite.  We sat for a few more minutes and I upped the ante.  If he got out of his chair without taking a bite, he would have to go to his crib.  And that's how it went.  I took him out of his chair and put him in his crib.  Now he was angry too.

I took a shower, emptied the dryer and put a new load in.  By then, I had calmed down a bit.  I took him out of his crib and started folding laundry.  He asked for a "squeezie".  Ah ha - a compromise!  I gave him a squeezie (which he ate) and got him dressed.

First he got a haircut.  He did great though he clearly does not enjoy the process.  He got to watch "Bob the Builder" and play with the trains.  Then we headed to the shoe store and found two pairs of shoes (size 7).  Then grocery store.  Our list was really short since we have lots of plans in the evening this week.  By the time we were heading home it was 12:30p and Daniel was asking for "lunch place. french fries." almost non-stop.

We unloaded groceries then back to the car.  I toyed with the idea of going downtown but remembering the breakfast battle thought we'd both be more comfortable eating at home.  I bought french fries.  We came home and I made Daniel a peanut butter sandwich with chocolate milk.  That meal was about as close to an ideal Daniel lunch as I could get without handing him a bowl of ice cream topped with cookies and cake.

He ate a few french fries and a quarter of a sandwich and drank about two fingers of milk.  When we counted it up, it came to about 5 bites.  I'll count it as a win even though it did not feel like one.  Now? He's napping.  Before he went to his crib, he protested missing "Lazy Town" and took issue with my mandate of no TV.  It took about 45 minutes but he's quietly sleeping.  That would be a win too but the maids will probably show up and I'll have to preempt the nap.