Ms. Independent

Today was yesterday's 180. Andrina was not needy today, if fact, she was extremely independent. She threw a fit at lunch today when I tried to "help" her eat (yes, she can feed herself but it takes f o r e v e r!). I made her a nice healthy lunch of ham (no nitrates or growth hormones) and cheese (tons of calcium and protein) on wheat bread (whole grain) with carrots and mixed fruit (I always offer fruit and vegetables at every meal and she actually likes them! I'm so proud!). I cut up her sandwich into bite sized pieces for her too (note: this actually takes a long time-does anyone except other moms know this and appreciate it? I doubt it). Well, like I said before, Andrina got really mad when I tried to help her, so I said forget it and gave her the fork and plate to let her feed herself. Which she did just fine, except she kept shoving too much food into her mouth instead of actually chewing in between bites. So I had to take the plate away from her to prevent her from choking since she would not listen to logic and reason. That really made her mad! So lunch was very short lived today. She only ate about half of her lunch before a complete meltdown and I lost my patience. I put her down for her nap which she was due for and thankfully, she fell right asleep.

Before the lunch time meltdown...

After her nap she was agreeable to a snack and ate an entire organic toddler cereal bar and drank diluted fruit juice. Then it was off to the gym. Here's my on-the-go Andrina in some of her new fall clothes:

Isn't she just adorable?

The gym experience went well again. This was Andrina's third trip in there in their child care. She did just great. She played some this time and when I came to pick her up, one of the staffers was playing with duplo blocks with her, which I really appreciate since they don't have to interact with the kids so I really like it when they do. There was a little bit of neediness when I picked her up to go home, she would not stop hugging me! I really loved that part and that is some positive reinforcement to take her to the gym with me much more often. Some separation is good for her development.

I had originally planed to make Andrina a scrambled egg for dinner (with sides of veggies and fruit), but after today's lunch episode, I decided that today would be Andrina's first happy meal from McDonalds. I chose it because: their hamburgers are small and easy to bite into and chew, it's so kid-friendly it's practically guaranteed that she'll eat it, if she throws it all on the floor it's not a big waste, and now they have apples and milk instead of french fries and soda. I'm not a health food nazi, but there is no way I'm going to let my baby have soda and fries-food that has zero nutritional value. The hamburger isn't exactly healthy but when I pat the grease off of it, take off the pickle and add a piece of cheese from home, it's not too bad of an option. Especially when I serve it with more fruit and veggies, which I did. So in the end, Andrina had a quasi-happy meal.

The quasi-happy meal was a success. I cut her burger into quarters and gave her one quarter at a time and put fruit and veggie pieces on her tray, handed her a fork, and let her do the entire meal on her own. It was extremely messy, but a good messy! The food only got squished in her hands and on the tray, not much landed on the floor. It was adorable to watch her eat her burger. She took it apart and took bites out of each ingredient separately. And she ate her carrots and fruit and drank her diluted juice too. Interestingly, the milk and apples that came with it are in the fridge. I had already opened up a fruit cup that still had a lot of fruit in it so the apples will have to wait until tomorrow. And I'll add the milk to her cereal since she is drinking the next-step toddler formula.

So this is why they call it a happy meal!

Oh and the toy, it was a Glenda doll from the Wizard of Oz. It was so late that the toy will have to wait another day too.