Life with a three year old is always something interesting. Today, its eating woes and shopping. We’re having eating problems again. We were doing good for some weeks since the last bout of this. I’ve been trying “Positive Discipline” type techniques. This involves me not getting emotionally jacked up about him not eating multiple meals in a row and just putting the food away for later and offering it later when he’s hungry. The kid survives off snack time and liquid breakfasts, neither of which is unhealthy. Yesterday’s food count includes milk, 5 graham crackers, one chicken strip (lovingly cooked by Underwater Light), one biscuit, one cup of juice and a minuscule portion of pesto alfredo pasta. Today (and its just past dinnertime), we’re clocking milk, a peanut butter granola bar, a fruit roll up (it was laundromat day and I have to buy some time), four reluctantly eaten over a 45 minute period chicken nuggets (which he asked specifically when I offered tuna salad for lunch), three french fries (from my lunch), and one bite of sausage. The sausage was offensive because it had char marks from being cooked in the skillet. *rolling eyes hugely* I am so trying not to blow a gasket, but I’m losing the battle.
At the department store today, while kiddo did very well putting up with a girly shopping trip where I found three tops from the 80% off rack. Clearance shopping is difficult with a three year old. Hamza amused himself by finding hangers on the floor and pretending they were guns. I have a gun obsessed three year old. I find it slightly mortifying but am trying to work with it and not give it too much attention. (I also bought him a foam sword to channel his destructive capabilities into. Its not working very well, hence the hanger-gun.) In order to make going through the jewelry section more fun (speak of the devil, my little gun toter just walked up with his hanger gun), I told Hamza he could pow-pow bad guys. So, the first thing he does is pow-pow some nice looking older ladies, to my complete mortification. I apologize in a quiet, embarrassed sort of manner, and one of the ladies asks my son if he is being naughty (in a nice funny way). Hamza looks straight at her and says, “No, I’m just pretending to be bad.” Those two ladies giggled their way out of jewelry at that.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the eating stuff. It really is normal for his age. Just wait there will come a time when he will seem to be obsessed with eating. I think the gun stuff is also normal. I don’t buy my kids any of that stuff but they always find something to pretend with.
As salaamu alaikum,
Surviving is right. My adopted son (not really, but he and my son are best buds) would eat exactly the way Hamza is eating now. His mother was so worried. He went through that phase until he was about 4. He is 5 (going on 50)now, and he eats like the average kid.
pow-pow some nice looking older ladies…yeah, we call that bad dawah around here…but maybe it is actually good dawah? hehe