Thursday, February 24, 2011

Put It Up High Mommy

Ayden Jane is very much trying to understand the whole food thing. She knows that there are things she does not eat because they are not good for her. She knows that she does not drink things with sugar. She tries to accept it, but since she really cannot understand the whys it is hard.

Lately I find that if something she should not have is left out, the loaf of bread after someone made a sandwich, a box of cereal... she will look at me and ask me to put it up high. She is curious and tempted to eat it. I am not sure that it is a whole lot different than any 3 yr. old would be with an open bag of cookies laid out before them, but it is interesting to see her 'tempted.' She recognizes that it is wrong and that she has a powerful desire to do it anyway.

Now what happens if I am not standing there? She eats it. As soon as she sees me she stops and hands it to me with a panicked look saying, put it up high please. At first, I have not really punished her for this as it is a tricky thing. I don't want to force her into hiding if she finds food she shouldn't be eating. We just talked about asking before we eat things.... not that what she ate was so wrong. She has gone into the cupboard a couple of times, but honestly they have been times I have been slack and the kid was hungry! She is so independent and wants to do everything herself, and it carries over into food as well.

It will be interesting to see how I work all this out. When Noah was little he ate constantly. So much so that I started the day by making an extra bowl of food he could eat snacks from during the day. It had pb&j sandwiches, fruit, pretzels... It was really just to save me from fixing things or having to say yes or no to choices 9000 times a day. I am thinking summer may have some form of this with AJ. Not that a PWS kid needs to have constant food at her disposal, but to have a designated 'bowl' to choose snacks out of at appropriate times may offer her independence and safety. I don't know, just rambling.

We are all doing our best to stay one step ahead of this thing!

No comments:

Post a Comment