Me. Laura at 2.5 yrs old
Cupcake Wars
I have the most beautiful little girl.
The most beautiful little strong willed, independent resolute person I have yet
to encounter in my almost 31 years of living. Her name is Heidi and she is 2 ½
years old.
Thus far she and I have had many
battles of the will, dancing like bulls locking horns. I am reluctant to say
that she has won more than I wanted and in those that she lost she went down
fighting, hard.
What could a two year old possibly have
that kind of gumption in regards to eating supper, a supper that she really
likes I might add?
Most of our struggles between us are
because she wants to call the shots and make her own choices.
No problem because I really don’t care
what my child wears, how she puts her things away or how she plays. I stay far
away from her other territories, she can call the shots, be the queen.
But Food, nutritious food and meals are
non negotiable.
Eating supper that includes a fruit,
vegetable some brown rice or noodles and a protein are essential to growing her
lovely analytical mind. I treasure that mind and want to feed it properly.
Mostly every meal I make, whether she
loves it or not becomes a battle. She flat out refuses to eat it. She instead
asks for some yogurt, chips or cookies. Then she refuses to eat. At All. We
have gone to bed many nights with her tummy hungry but she refuses to touch it.
I warn her that if she does not eat her supper that she can have nothing else
until she does.
Heidi gladly takes the nothing else and
pretends like it doesn’t bother her.
Feisty little thing I say.
The boys reluctantly finish their
supper.
I give them each a cupcake.
There is Heidi standing next to them
all excited asking for a cupcake.
I HATE HAVING TO TELL HER NO but I made
it very clear to her that she had to eat before she got a cupcake.
The longest tantrum I have ever seen
ensues. Complete with throwing toys, taking off her diaper and throwing it and
flinging
Herself on the ground.
YIKES!
Now I really cannot give her a cupcake.
Still no supper eaten, screams from the
child that she is hungry. I feel like a jerk but have to teach her to respect
rules/boundaries.
Redirect to bath time. She is still
screaming and sobbing about her cupcake with sparkles. Sobs, Sobs and more sobs
before she quiets down. She very calmly asks me if she can play downstairs. I
tell her yes and that her supper is still on the table if she is hungry. After
getting the boys dressed I come downstairs and find my daughter shoving a funfetti-green-frosted-with-sparkles
cupcake in her mouth.
Quite triumphantly so I might add.
Where did This child come from?!
Then I remembered- ME.
Really- she is ME, in the blue-eyed,
dark hair version.
I recall a time that my grandma
insisted that I eat coleslaw before I could have any desserts. I sat there at
the table trying to figure out a way to not eat that stuff. It took half the
afternoon to figure out a way to win the battle with the coleslaw and grandma
on that summer day. I asked her if I could go get a jacket to get warmed up and
that I felt cold. I was excused from the table. When I got back I pretended to
eat the coleslaw and instead shoved it in my jacket sleeve.
My grandma was so happy that she gave
me an ice cream cone. Even then I knew that I out-sneaked her and it was well-played.
A very well-played sneaker outsmarted me as I had done so many years before. I
was out-sneaked, and out-willed by my daughter just as her mother did before
her.
Moral of the food story- I have got a
lot coming to me!
Especially that if I look back at the
antics I pulled when I was just Heidi’s age!
I climbed a really tall tree by myself
that I would be too scared to as an adult. When My Mom climbed up to get me she
told me to not climb it again unless I could get down safely. So she showed me
how to get down and that same day I climbed up and down that tree until I had
it down pat.
And that my friends is just how I roll.
The out-smarted Grandma
Me in the middle with the wild hair
My older sisters & Unlce Joe
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