The Daily Battle

There is a daily battle at the Mason household. Many tears have been shed as a consequence of this battle, and yet it rages on. Thankfully, no lives have been lost. Yet.

The battle is trying to get a two year old to try something new to eat. I can count on both hands the few things that Ben will eat willingly. Sometimes those few things change (and by that I mean that one food is taken off of the list, and another put on in its place), but it's a very rare occasion that it does. Imagine my surprise this week, when Ben branched out!! He took a bite of a carrot (now, granted it did have cinnamon, butter, and brown sugar), and although he chewed this bite of carrot for about an hour, he never spit it out!! He SWALLOWED it. And another day, we were having French Dip Sandwiches, and I gave him about 1/8 of a sandwich. He asked me to dip it, which I did reluctantly, thinking that the odds of this bite of food actually ending up in his stomach would be slim to none already, without having it dipped in a sauce that Ben knew nothing about. I was sure that dipping the sandwich in the Au Jus had just cut those slim odds in half again. I could NOT believe my eyes when he actually took a bite of that sandwich (including the meat), and again swallowed it!!! Now he didn't take any more bites of these foreign foods, but the fact that they reached his intestines is in itself a miracle. This is always the point where Josh and I excuse ourselves from the table so that we can go into the living room (where Ben can't see us) and have a celebration.

Every day I hope that Ben will realize that there are many more things in this big world that taste better than Ramen Noodles. Until that time, I will continue to wage this battle, and keep my chin up. After all, he is only two.

Bedtime

This week has been a bit of a challenge around bedtime. Ben typically is in bed between 8:30 and 9:00 at night, and is quiet and goes to sleep pretty fast. This week, not so much. So, last night Ben asked me to lie down next to him. In his toddler bed. That's quite a challenge, even for a small one like myself! I did it anyway. Ben had his back toward me at first, and he was arranging his teddy bear and whispering. At first I couldn't tell what it was he was saying, until I started listening really hard-- He was giving his teddy bear kisses, and telling him to "Seep good, okay? Okay." After he put his teddy bear to bed, he rolled over, gave me kisses on my head, told me he loved me while he rested his hand on my cheek, and said the same thing, "Seep good, okay Mommy?" I fell in love.

Claire, too-- this week has been hard to get her down. She hasn't been her normal self. She's been really restless, and wiggley. Then, last night as I was rocking her to sleep, she just went back to normal. She totally relaxed herself in my arms, and she looked up at me for such a long time. Claire coos a lot when she's getting ready to go to sleep, and she did that for so long. I love it because it feels like she is having an actual conversation with me. I fell in love again.

Sometimes being a mommy is really hard, and other times everything about it that's hard just melts away.

By the way, today is Josh's birthday!! Every day I'm glad that I have him with me, as my companion. He's wonderful.

Here we go. . .

I am new to the blog frontier-- this is a bold step into a strange new world. To find time to keep this up will be the challenge.

Not as much of a challenge, though, as trying to keep up with Ben. That boy learns far too quickly. Yesterday I got after our dog, Rex, for going to the bathroom in the house. Today, Ben found a spot where Rex had gone in the house that I had missed yesterday. He said to the dog, "Wex, pee in house!! Bad!! I mad at you, Wex. Go OUSIDE. OUSIDE!!!" He then proceeded to open our sliding glass door, and kick Rex out of the house (figuratively). Perceptive little boy that he is, I have to be very careful of what I say around him. Yesterday after I got mad at Rex, Ben walked around for a half hour saying, "I MAD at you, MOM. I MAD at you DAD."

I never thought that I would be lucky enough to have a good baby again. I thought Ben was good when he was a baby, but he's nothing compared to Claire. That little angel has a smile on her face 95% of the time! She has started rolling from side to side, and playing with toys. I cannot believe how fast she is growing.

Well, that will have to do for now. More to come, eventually. . . .