This Child Loves Cheese

I'm not quite sure what Teddy's favorite food is, but I can guarantee that carbs and cheese are both high on his list. He will snag either off the counter and run off like a bandit to enjoy his stolen goods (including entire loaves of sourdough or pounds of cheese). He was quite excited when we stopped to get fresh, deep-fried cheese curds at the cheese factory along the way to the farm last weekend.

Gosh, he looks grown up here.

And these pictures just demonstrate the weirdness that is Teddy.

He's sporting his baby Yoda sweatshirt. 

And this, well, he's just weird.

Sharing with a Velociraptor

The other night we had grapes for supper. Teddy was apparently starving and shoveling food into his mouth faster than he could chew. (He's at risk for choking, but he just doesn't realize it.) I grabbed an egg carton and put a single grape in each hole. That slowed him down somewhat, and it often works until he dumps the carton onto his plate. And I just got sidetracked researching slow feed bowls for dogs ... there's a lot of parallels between Teddy and a puppy, so why not leverage that?

Anyways, the other night, Teddy was apparently too hungry to demonstrate any self-control, and he stole Dave's entire serving of grapes. He was so quick, determined and fierce that we joked he was like a velociraptor. Dave simply went and got himself a second serving of grapes. He set that on his plate, picked up a different piece of food, and the grapes were gone ... again. Teddy had snatched them in a second. 

It's frustrating and challenging because we need to establish boundaries that stealing food isn't acceptable, yet he's so quick and determined that trying to stop him results in potentially getting hurt or the food destroyed. I know we need to do better, so I asked him right away if he could share the grapes with Dave.

Teddy responded by immediately plopping a single grape on Dave's plate. I couldn't help but laugh. It was squished, so Dave rejected his offer to share. But Teddy heard my request, comprehended it and shared what he felt was appropriate (a single grape after stealing probably 20 or more). The comprehension is there, but we clearly need to work on the communication and impulse control.

Hey, I could say the same about myself and impulse control when it comes to food ...

5 Servings of YUCK!

When we met with the dietitian at NIH, she nicely encouraged us to work on Teddy eating vegetables, limiting juice and reducing the amount of treats he eats. I wish we could redo that meeting now because what I could tell her now sounds much better than what I told her 6 weeks ago.

Then: Umm, yeah. The only vegetable he eats is potato in the form of a French fry and ketchup, which is technically made from tomatoes. He'll eat spaghetti sauce, too, but that's about it. He eats a lot of pancakes. And waffles. He once ate at least 6 pancakes for breakfast in a single day. What? This milkshake. He's been having milkshakes every day here because he's so traumatized.

Now: Oh, Teddy quite a few vegetables. He loves pancakes and waffles, so he eats all whole-grain pancakes with either added wheat germ or pumpkin. The waffles he eats for snack are whole grain with zucchini. He also enjoys zucchini as a treat in a whole-grain zucchini cake with extra anti-oxidants (a.k.a. cocoa powder). Aside from those vegetables, he eats broccoli and cauliflower tots. We also add pumpkin into our spaghetti sauce to give him an extra nutritional boost. He will drink a green juice as a treat that has additional minerals and herbs. He'll occasionally drink a green smoothie with avocado and spinach, along with chia and flax seeds.

Zucchini waffles. Approved by Teddy.

I realize Teddy still doesn't love vegetables, but all it took was someone pointing out the obvious that Teddy still needs to get those vitamins, minerals and nutrients from vegetables for me to think creatively enough to get him eating vegetables.

Now, don't get me wrong. The kid still ate ice cream today. And a piece of cake, but at least the cake had bananas and whole grain flour. But, we're making a conscious effort to incorporate vegetables and things like wheat germ, and it's working. A huge thank you to Lindsay for suggesting the broccoli tots. He may eat the cauliflower ones with ranch dressing, but at least he's eating a full serving of vegetables in a meal.

He still eats probably more pancakes and waffles than he should. But at least they're all whole grain, and some have pumpkin or zucchini, depending on which bag he grabs.

This kid loves his pancakes and waffles!

And on the really bright side, this morning when he opened the freezer door, I told him to wait to make a choice. He shut the door and waited for me. I grabbed his talker and gave him a choice of waffles or pancakes. He choose pancakes, so I gave him the bag of pancakes to take one. He took the whole bag to the table and sat in his chair. He then proceeded to eat 2 to 3 of them, but at least he sat on the table. There's a lot of wins in that story.

Teddy Decided He's a Big Boy

About a month ago, we began talking about transitioning Teddy out of his high chair. Our challenge was to find a way to get him up to the table where he still had the support (and confinement) of a 5-point harness. Ideally, we wanted something that helped him to contain his food as well, similar to the tray of his high chair.

We put in a request to a donation closet looking for some sort of a positioning chair that might help with the transition. Nothing was readily available, so we waited and debated other options.

Well, apparently Teddy was listening to those conversations.

Last weekend, he began screaming mid-meal. We thought he bit his tongue or maybe had a sore tooth or perhaps was simply too exhausted to function. We pulled him from his chair, snuggled him and put him down for a much-needed nap.

When it came to supper, he began crying as soon as buckled him in his high chair. Uncontrollable crying. When we placed his tray in front of him with his food, he put his head on his tray in tears. He wouldn't touch his food.

We examined his mouth and found nothing. We checked his body for marks, bruises or sore spots and looked for any signs of his chair or his straps hurting him. We eventually held him while feeding him, which is not an easy feat.

Fast forward to the next morning, he ate sitting on a regular chair just fine because we were doing a casual snacking breakfast. Any time we placed him in his high chair, the screaming began. So we got a booster seat, thinking that would be a great way to get him at the table and keep him in place for meals. No dice there. Same instant screaming.

We pulled the booster seat off the chair and pulled his high chair off the chair. He immediately climbed into them and scooted around the room. Great, apparently they're not for meals. They're more like vehicles to ride.

Nothing but class in our house.

We had two days of instant screaming at meals, even when we placed an ice cream sandwich in front of him, if he was in his high chair or booster seat. So, finally we gave up and placed him at the table with a plate.

And he smiled and ate happily (and messily). He sat up extremely straight (for a good portion of the time) and stayed on his chair (a portion of the time) and smiled like he was the coolest thing on earth.

Nothing hurt in his high chair. Nothing was physically wrong. He simply decided he was a big boy who was going to sit at the table like the rest of us.

Ironically, we got an e-mail that same weekend that a positioning chair was reserved for us. We still picked it up. We haven't tried it yet. I'm not too optimistic that Teddy will consider it a viable option, but we'll see.