Terrible Two's

I think that it's a fair statement that Graham has been in his terrible two's since he was 2 weeks ago.  I love that little boy, but he is a very difficult child.  And now we are officially entering that phase where he says no (well, he doesn't say no, he shakes his head) about EVERYTHING and then totally loses his shit if we say no to him about anything.  It is VERY trying. 

Meals are the WORST.  I don't know what it is about him and dinner, but when he was a newborn, dinner time meant the start of the colic, and now he walks in the door from daycare and DEMANDS that he be fed.  It got better for a while there because we'd give him dinner and he'd eat while we cooked, then he'd play while we ate.  But now.....now he refuses anything I give him to eat. Except cereal (well, sometimes he refuses cereal if it's not the "right" cereal) and goldfish and applesauce and raisins.  So this week, he ate mostly applesauce and raisins, which wreaked havoc on his digestive system. 

When I say refuse, I mean REFUSES.  I will take a video next time so all the naysayers in my life will stop telling me that I'm exaggerating or that I need to relax or to not worry because it will pass.  Screaming, crying, crying, begging, crying, screaming, flailing...I know I can be negative, but they should come spend a day in my shoes and then they can tell me to relax.  We're getting desperate.  It is awful.  Awful.  I hate meals now.  Because last time we were struggling with tears at dinner it stressed me out so much I stopped eating and then everyone gave me a bunch of shit for losing too much weight, I'm forcing myself to keep eating which then makes me feel like puking.

We need help.  I need help.  What the hell do I do about this? 

Comments

  1. oh lady!!! :( i have no advice but that sucks!

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  2. Pippa is similar. She flails her arms and screams no, no, no and it knocks all her food to the floor. She eats one fruit at a time, right now it's apples (it was bananas), bread and yogurt. She refuses to eat any meat, protein, vegetable, etc.
    I asked my doctor about it. He said to only feed her what we want her to eat, don't bend to her demands, if she knows that we will cater to what she wants she will fight every time. When kids "this age" are hungry, they will eat. Continue only to serve her what we are eating and "eventually" she will eat it.
    That worked for about two days but at daycare she refuses food too and she doesn't nap very long because she's so hungry. If she was big I wouldn't worry about it but her and Graham are only a couple weeks apart and she's 22 pounds. You've hit the spot for me because my first child would eat anything and everything, she eats almost nothing.
    I guess I have no advice, right? Maybe try what the doctor said then tell Graham, this is what is for meal time today. Although it's hard to deny your child food, right? Keep us posted!

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    1. It's awful, isn't it? You know just how hungry they are and you want them to eat, but you also want them to be healthy. Even with Graham being big, I don't want him to lose weight or starve. On a side note: how funny that your big baby is such a little one now! I would put Graham at probably 31 or 32 lbs now. He was just shoving pretzels in his mouth yesterday afternoon because the poor child was starving after refusing most of breakfast (he ate blueberries) and all of his lunch (and most of dinner pretty much every night this week).

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  3. Oh, Hill, I'm so sorry you're going through this. I feel like perhaps I'm one of the naysayers who has been telling you to relaxtoooften, but please know that I say it out of concern for you, as I hate to see you so worked up. I wish I had some magical advice for you. Perhaps call the pediatrician and see if she/he has any advice for you? Would G eat a snack in the car on the way home from daycare so he's not starving when he walks in the door? I'm not sure if he will eat rakers or Cheerios these days. All I can say is that I can absolutely relate to how challenging evenings are, and how hard it is to decide which battles to fight and which ones aren't that big of a deal. The stakes are so high with parenting and it's totally impossible to know the long term consequences of each decision. Add to that the fact that it seems that each child is custom designed to test your most vulnerable qualities, and you have the toughest job in the world!! For what it's worth, I think you and Jeff are doing an amazing job, and the fact that you two get so stressed out about these challenges is evidence of that. I love all three of you, and I am confident that you will work through this current stage and be better prepared for the next phase.

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    1. That's just it: crackers, he'll eat. Well - goldfish crackers. And Chex. He likes Chex. And pretzels apparently. But he's now refusing all meat/protein (I even succumbed and bought damn hot dogs and he locked that little mouth shut and absolutely would not even entertain the idea of trying them). He's also refusing grapes (which he was eating a lot of for a while). Although, here's the thing: in the midst of refusing the grapes, he knocked them on the floor and TOTALLY FREAKED when Cooper starting eating them. He IS, however, eating bananas again (after refusing those for a while, too).

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