Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Hunger

When I worked full time I had lunch at 1, picked SkyWalker up at 4:45ish and was home by 5:15/5:30. I had just enough time to start dinner before Vader got home at 6. He used to get home at 5:45 and I'm not sure what happened to make it 6. Whatever. Sometimes we didn't eat until after 6 but it was fine.


Now that I am home this is just ridiculous! We have lunch anywhere between 11:30 and 12:30 depending on preschool. By 5 we're hungry. Even with a snack. We're hungry. I've laid out a simple dinner tonight since I have to leave at 6:30. It is now 5:30 and I am blogging because I have to wait for it to be close enough to 6 before I start cooking. It's not like Vader works that far away. He doesn't have much of a commute. He just always leaves late. It doesn't matter if he's gotten to work wicked early or on time or late. He still stays until 5:30 every day. (except Thursday because I work). 

Have I mentioned that I am hungry? I'm starting to think the kids and I should just have dinner on our own every night and forget about him. 

Last night I made turkey meatloaf and thought I was screwing it up but it actually turned out pretty good. I gave Skywalker a sliver of it and the carrots and green beans and mashed potatoes that went along with it. He said he didn't like any of it and pushed his plate away. We didn't say anything. He would up eating the carrots because he can't resist carrot math (he counts them and then says "What happens if I take one away/minus one/eat one?" and then counts again until he's eaten them all). He did not try the meatloaf or the mashed potatoes or the green beans that he used to like. His sister ate his meat loaf and his green beans. There was no crying, no drama. Mostly I think because he had had 2 PBJ sandwiches for lunch. On Sunday when it was really bad he had NO lunch because his father gave him orzo with diced tomatoes mixed in. Now, I love tomatoes and I don't like the diced tomatoes in the jar that he gets. SkyWalker has never liked any kind of tomatoes. He did try a grape tomato yesterday (yay!) but didn't like it. Anyway, so naturally he did not eat the orzo & diced tomatoes and was really hungry by dinner but not hungry enough to try the stew I made. Just hungry enough to cry and scream about it. I think I'll keep letting him have control over breakfast and lunch (within the choices I give him) and make sure he's got some food in him and then use dinner time as the try new things time. He won't starve and hopefully if we don't make a big deal out of it and call attention to his whining and crying, then maybe he'll stop whining and crying.

Crikey, I'm hungry.

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3 comments:

bookishbiker said...

I think you should try to do family dinner still, but is there any rule that says you can't have TWO snacks? Like some peanuts at 4:30 or something else similarly protein-y?Also, if Skywalker likes food math, maybe you could cut his food into various shapes for mathematical purposes. Instead of a slab of meatloaf, there could be four squares of meatloaf, for example. I dunno, it sounds like a good plan to not stress it too much.

Shinesalot said...

We eat carrot sticks and cut up cucumbers when Papabear is running late. Littleman likes the circles...

Bee said...

Hahaha... I signed in to comment on this almost an hour and a half ago... Now that you're sitting next to me, it's tempting just to turn and talk to you -- but I am posting a comment on principle! Teeheehee...So, Boogie loves the whole "control" thing that we give him, but it's more of a which of these two almost identical choices that I approve of would you like? For example -- do you want your grilled cheese cut into rectangles or triangles? Do you want pink [strawberry] milk or white milk? I agree with not making it into a huge battle... Good luck!