Emory is starting school in January. He’ll be there Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This comes as bittersweet news, naturally. On the one hand, I would love to get back designing and writing again. On the other, I’m really going to miss him. I think this will be good for him, though. My feelings aside, he likes to be around other kids and at this particular school, he’ll be with the same ten kids each day he’s there. Plus, they have music class, language class and art class. Which is awesome. I’m really excited for him.
I am worried about the food situation, however. Emory is not an eater. He is very picky. Generally speaking, if it’s not a fruit or a vegetable, good luck getting him to eat it. He will eat bread sometimes, as well as cheese (but not too often) and meat tends to freak him out (although, we’ve only tried chicken, fish and turkey). We’re working on the eating thing. He loves his milk. He lives for the milk. I haven’t ever seen a creature drink and desire so much milk! He’s picky so I got a little worried whenever I read over through manual.
They don’t allow nuts (makes sense), peanuts (of course), whole apples with any skin (Em likes the skin), grapes (unless they’re cut up in fours), string cheese (unless it’s diced up. Part of the reason Em eats string cheese is because he thinks it’s fun to pull apart), dried cranberries, or raisins.
We’ll make due with most of it. But raisins? Raisins? Emory loves raisins, like, they are the most awesome snack on planet earth. He lets out a joyous gasp whenever he sees the container.
He’s going to miss his raisins probably as much as I’m going to miss him.
As evident in the video above, we’re still trying to get settled into our new home. Naturally this is going to take some time, especially considering parts of it are still under construction, which has Murray in a tizzy. He just doesn’t like all the hammering on the 6th floor, the strange smells, the weird voices coming from the hallway.
We’ve had some growing pains with the move. Moving always comes with some setbacks, but deep down I know that things are going to be great. The cost of living here is almost double our previous rent and we had an overlap of rents. We’re entering the Christmas season. We owed the school its first installment. Murray had the whole vet fiasco last month. Things are hitting all at once, and this has put a huge dent in our savings. But I suppose that’s what a savings is for. There’s been some bickering. Transitions (for this family) don’t come without some fender benders. I owe my husband a massage and a night out with friends for sure.
I know he could use some rest.
So! If anyone out there knows of anyone who needs some design work done—production, layout, even dancing the Charleston—please let me know. I am all yours. I need to pull my weight somehow, especially now.
Edited to add: To those of you who emailed, called, and commented about how amazed you were at how delicate Em was with the can of raisins, this is how Em normally deals with his snacks. :]
How exciting that Emory is going to school! He’ll love it and you’ll get use to him being away. It is so hard to let go of them!
I’m assuming the school gives the kids lunch. We have such a huge problem with school lunches because Annie doesn’t do PB&J like most kids, we tried cheese sandwiches, but no luck. If it isn’t hot, she’s not into it. Annie likes hot food. For meals she always requests her food hot…like I would give her chicken noodle soup or mac & cheese any other way!
Annie doesn’t eat much of anything that schools offer so I’ve been packing her lunch since she started preschool and it at least gives her something if she doesn’t like what is being served at school. Then we eat lunch again when she comes home on most days. I fill up her bag with things like raisins (the most wonderful food!), granola bars, protein bars, goldfish, etc. It is a challenging situation, actually. Good luck.
NO! They don’t do lunches. We have to send them with lunch. They are going to have a great deal of trouble getting him to eat, I fear. We do! But maybe they’ll have a better time with it. My mother seems to.
They don’t allow PB&J and we haven’t yet tried it with him either. Cheese sandwiches don’t seem to work either. We have had some luck with butter and bread, however. Ugh.
Take it day by day. When we switched daycares, Matthew was placed in a class where they had “real” food. At the time, Matthew wasn’t having anything to do with anything that didn’t come out of a baby food jar. So we warned everybody, and sent him with plenty of jars of stuff we knew he would like.
Yeah, well, we went to pick him up, and he was chowing down on pancakes, eggs, toast, and jelly. The next day? Hamburger and carrot sticks. The second he saw the other kids eating things, he ate things. Like magic. I realize every kid is different, but hey, you never know—Emory could suddenly decide to eat everything in sight.
And if he doesn’t, that’s fine, too! ;-)
You might be surprised by what Emory will do at school. I was worried when Anthony transitioned to the toddler room at dayacre because they have them nap on cots. “Good luck with that!”, I thought. Sure enough, in two days he was taking 2 hour naps for them on a cot. And, would Emory eat quiche? That is a big hit with Anthony (16 mos.) I make it with evaported milk rather than cream, and it has protein from eggs, cheese, and veggies.
Just a thought, perhaps Emory is drinking too much milk. My pediatrician suggested limiting milk to 16 oz per day so that the kids don’t fill up on it and not want to eat “real” food. Some also recommend not giving any fruit juice for the same reason as well as the fact that they are often contain large amounts of sugar.
I most definitely think that sometimes he drinks too much milk. We have been cutting down on it substantially for that very reason. I think it’s the battle of the wills right now. He wants milk, we want him to eat more food. :]
We don’t do much juice at all. Orange juice from time to time and pear if he’s constipated but he drinks water and milk otherwise. For the most part.
Kid loves milk. Makes me sad whenever he makes the milk sign and we give him pasta or something. hehe
I would love for him to eat quiche! What a great idea!
I was so impressed that Emory walked over and placed the raisin-container lid on the table! It looked like such a purposeful, thoughtful gesture for such a little guy.
Yes, Jesse? That’s misleading. He must have known I was filming and acted like the perfect child, because he normally is trashes the place. :] For example, the milk is not placed on the floor or counter, it’s dumped out or held upside down for a while first, sometimes it’s thrown down. (One day he threw it so hard it cracked in two.) He is a piggy—mommy’s little piggy. Do not be fooled!
Yeah, my 17 month old also does the battle of wills over food. I know I’m supposed to act like it doesn’t bug me but it DOES and he can tell and therefore he’s stubborn and gets his way.
We do cheese sticks whole at home, too, but we cut grapes in half and haven’t given him raisins yet – your daycare probably doesn’t allow them because they are “choking hazards”.
Disclaimer: If your kid is used to eating them and you’re around to notice if he gets one stuck in his throat I wouldn’t worry about it. My pediatrician lists them on “foods to avoid until 2 years old” or something like that. Along with hot dogs, which I give my boy twice a week because they are his favorite food ever.
i agree that you’d be surprised at what he’ll eat at school. i have to pack my toddler’s lunches for school too. she’s a pretty good eater, so i never worried too much about it, but i’m always surprised by which lunches disappear completely (leftover salmon and asparagus?) and which ones come home virtually untouched (pizza!). it’s quite often the opposite of what she enjoys at home! our school doesn’t have any restrictions like yours, but i do try to be conscious to make everything bite-size (i just cut everything up into pieces) and something she can eat on her own. mostly i just cut up bits of leftovers from dinner the night before. i can’t imagine not being able to pack raisins though, those are a staple in her lunchbox. good luck!
Once again, you fine people are making me feel much, much better.
Congrats on Em starting school! Ellie started in November and despite it taking a while for me to get some work, it has been WONDERFUL. Already she is much more independent and adventurous. I agree with the others—peer pressure does wonders for the eating situation! Nothing like seeing another kid eat something they think they might want. The other kids (younger) “peer-pressured” Ellie into walking (finally at 15 months!).
What about soup? My son has loved soup since he was about 7 months old. I used to have to feed him, spoon by spoon, then he learned to use a spoon, and now sometimes he just drinks the soup.
I bought a tiny thermos for him to take to daycare, and put chicken noodle soup, or tomato soup, or sometimes alphagetti in it for him to eat. He loves it, and always wants to take the thermos with him.
Cold pasta/macaroni and cheese, and rice and stir-fried vegetables are also popular lunches for him.
Does Emory eat cottage cheese? I’m sure I’ve asked before..that is a staple of our diets too.
Believe it or not, cold scrambled eggs are a favourite for my son’s lunches too!
Try anything, and see how it works, you may be surprised!
also, thought i’d add, if you’re ever in a rush or don’t know what to pack, my last-minute lifesavers have been those pre-cooked chicken sausages (i cut it in half lengthwise then into slices, less of a choking hazard, you could even cut the slices into quarters if you need to) and frozen veggies. not the best lunch ever, but it works in a pinch, and is more nutritious than a lot of the other last-minute options. the veggies thaw by the time lunch is served, and they usually are already in bite-size portions (chopped broccoli, peas, corn, etc.) my 20-month old also likes crackers, and cheese cubes (i just slice regular cheese into cubes, much cheaper) and cut-up fruit. right now the little tangerines are a big hit in our house – i just peel and section them for her, she can bite into the sections, but Em (or the school) may still prefer you cut them smaller. Regular navel oranges worked well for us for cutting into smaller chunks. (I just sliced off the top and bottom peel so it would stand, then sliced off the peel around the sides – kind of like a pineapple? – and cut the fruit into small chunks.) sorry for all the detail… i guess i’m just excited to share now that i feel like i finally have a handle on it!
and there’s nothing wrong with lots of fruits and veggies. if that’s what you know he likes, you could just start with that, and ask the teacher which of the other kids foods he’s most interested in! :)
don’t worry too much, it will be fine.
Ohmigod! Those little footsteps in the video – cuteness overload!
Very nice place! Looks roomy and sunny.
Your new place looks lovely. I have a quick question. I saw the FIOS envelope on the table. Did you go with FIOS instead of cable for TV. If so, how do you like it so far. Are the On Demand choices comparable?
Unfortunately, they don’t yet have Fios TV here yet. So we’re forced to go with TWC who also has yet to get their shit together and get the building hooked up. So, no idea! I wish we had FIOS TV because if it’s anything like their internet access it’s going to be awesome. (this from someone who really doesn’t like Verizon.)
Don’t worry about him missing raisins and the like, too much. I was the same when my daughter was about to start preschool this year and after a little while I realized she could still have all the stuff not allowed at school when she got home or on the off days. (Sounds obvious, but it just didn’t click straight away.) She ended up bringing pretty much the same thing for lunch everyday when we figured out what would work for her and she didn’t complain once.
Adorable. And the school thing sounds like it will be wonderful for both of you.
The new place looks lovely. Pookum looks like she’s settled right in. :)
My advice, especially for a hungry boy is to have a little snack with you when you pick Emory up. I’m assuming you are walking to preschool, so he can just munch something on the way home. That way, you may avoid meltdowns due to hunger. Also, anticipate he will be tired after school. Plan for that too! After 18 years, my boy is still hungry after school !
That video is adorable, and reminded me of this, which is also about raisins and had me in tears (of laughter) the other day:
http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000749.php
I had to replay the 2007 about ten times.
My son is the same way as Emory. He hated formula but now LOVES milk. He does the milk sign numerous times a day. He is going through a phase where he hates protein right now so I let him drink lots of milk to get some into him. He hates cheese and macaroni and cheese and tomato sauce. So he eats craisins, lots of raisins, rice chex, sometimes breakfast sausage, lots of broccoli and oven fries. He also loves rice. We make the rice sticky and form it into balls or put a little cheese on it and melt it and form it into balls. But it can’t be too much cheese or he won’t eat it. Maybe you could try making a snack mix with cruncy cereal and coconut and maybe pretzels and put butter on it and bake it to get more fat into him or try sunbutter instead of peanut butter. My son loved sunbutter. I made him little cereal bars with it.