Three questions
September 8, 2008First of all, did you notice that I put a search function in here? Did you notice? It's below the fold, on the left. My margins are getting a little too chock full of stuff, I know. If I had any design know-how in any way I would fix all of this, I really would. I would design the crap out of this site. Instead I just tootle along with my Typepad templates, hoping no one notices what a mess this is all is.
Secondly, have you been reading Wonderland? Because last Friday I wrote about Henry's eccentric food habits, and I've been too scared to go back and read the comments. In my imagination, my Wonderland readers have all joined against me and taken over the site to discuss what can be done about my poor mothering skills. So why don't you see what's up over there, make sure it's safe for me to return.
Finally! Are you aware that I am going to be in Brooklyn this Friday, signing copies of Sleep is for the Weak? Did you have any idea? And do you know that this means you can meet me, in person? I mean, you won't know it's me, of course, because due to my overwhelming social anxiety I have to wear an oversized papier-maché Dumbo head. I also hire other people to wear copies of the head, to serve as decoys. It's pretty confusing. Just be glad I don't wear the rest of the costume anymore. Progress!
As I was saying. The signing is at 5 p.m., at the Tea Lounge , 837 Union Street, in Park Slope. (Coincidentally, my second post ever written, back when I thought this site would only be read by my husband, was about the Tea Lounge.) I will be signing with my esteemed peers Rita Arens, Liz Gumbinner, Joanna Polyn, Doug French, Karen of Cheek, AND Stacy Morrison. That's a lot of talent in one room. You can purchase your copy of Sleep is for the Weak right there, too, so you don't even have to bring a copy with you! How could you not come? You couldn't. Not come. So come. Good. Thank you.
Reader Comments (46)
Funny, I read your post as "singing copies", which I would ALSO totally come to see/hear. Have fun though - and make sure you remove the head before taking a sip of wine.
PS I like your search function. Very lovely, as Elmo says.
I'm glad you're reading in the cockroach free Tea Lounge! Congrats!
It's a far cry from MY childhood. I ate chipped beef on toast -- one of my favorites. I'm fussy about some things, but it kills me that my kids can't enjoy apple pie or chocolate cake -- although one of them WILL eat the sprinkles off the top of the cake... Or my mother's cinnamon rolls... All the yummy homemade things I grew up with.
do you trust his pediatrician? if so, then trust that henry is healthy as the doc says, & focus your energy on letting your end of the food wars go.
yes, i know it's easier said than done, but if you don't find a way to stop trying to 'fix' this, he will continue to fight you, & you very well may end with him having real food issues.
it sounds like you've tried everything, so i won't bother suggesting things to try. honestly though... just let it go, it will be ok. henry will be ok.
~peace.
Also, that "Sleep Is for the Weak" is a good-ass book. Even if each post does piss me off with its utter not-having-been-written-by-me-ness.
My 9-year-old's food aversion is "limited" to a single food group. He will not eat vegetables at all in any form except juice. Fortunately, he likes almost all other foods and is very open to trying new foods, as long as there isn't a vegetable involved. I get around my own paranoia that's he going to suffer severe physical harm from not eating vegetables by making sure he has a serving of fruit with every meal, drinks Vruit Juice (does not look or taste like a vegetable), and gets a Yummy Bear whole food antioxidant supplement every day.
My 12-year old daughter won't eat tomatoes in any form except for ketchup (no spaghetti-type sauces EVER) or very, very, very light on the sauce when it comes to pizza. On the other hand, she likes almost all other foods, including things like asparagus and artichokes. Go figure.
I know plenty of adults who don't like certain foods and don't eat them. I guess I believe that my children are entitled to their likes and dislikes as well and have never insisted they eat something they've tried many times and still don't like. If they are eating well nutritionally, that's what matters.
Seriously...no one ever died from being a picky eater.
Can't wait to see you in a few days! I will regale you with tales of my husband's four favorite words: Sit Up And Eat.
If your pediatrician says he's healthy I wouldn't worry yourself over it any more than you have to. Seriously, my mom went through this with my younger brother. She had me, and I ate anything and everything ("Duck! Beets! Peas! Delicious. No frosting, thanks." I was a freak child.) and then he came along and literally would only eat white or tan foods, and she was puzzled, angry, frustrated, etc. And our pediatrician said "Eh, he's at the top of the growth charts. Be glad ONE of your kids will eat," because the doctor's kids were both picky. He also told her that when my brother found himself hungry, he'd eat. Sure enough, he hit puberty and started growing inches at a time and I came home from college to find him eating whole trout and cooking chinese food. Now he's the most adventurous eater and one of the best cooks I know, and when my family gathers together all we do is cook, eat, and talk about food, all of us with equal joy. You aren't doomed to a lifetime of boring meals or fighting.
BTW, my mom taught T to use the toaster as early as POSSIBLY safe (um, earlier than probably advisable) and told him that if he wasn't eating what she made, he could make his own damn buttered potato roll with a spoonful of peanut butter on the side. From that day forward he did it himself and she only made one meal.