Feeding Therapy

Tuesday again... Jamie was just here to work with Grace on her eating. Tuesdays are both a joy and the bane of my existence. They are a joy, because I get a break and someone else gets to feed Grace. Dad simply does not have the patience to feed Grace and therefore does not do it and well, since there is only me left after that... I get the glorious job of fighting with Grace to eat. It is the only part of mothering Grace that frustrates and exhausts me. I must admit that while my blood pressure was up this morning at the doctors office, it is nothing compared to sitting at the table and warring with Grace on a daily basis to do what should be such a simple thing...eat... Feeding Therapy is the bane of my existence because when Jamie is here, with the exception of last week, it is a breeze. Grace happily sits in her chair for a hour and for the most part just eats. She fights Jamie half as much as she fights me. She takes less time to do what she is asked and all in all makes me feel like a failure.

Today however Grace ate a jar and a half (9oz) of Sweet Potato and is now moving on to meats. (Gross!) The thought of jarred meat makes my stomach turn. But I will do whatever it takes to get Grace eating... I have 6 weeks left until there is a baby in the house and my time is cut in half... what I am going to do is a mystery to even me... But tomorrow we start Gerber meats...

So unfair...

Poor Grace. I had a doctors appointment this morning (surprise, surprise... right?) And she had to get up, fed, dressed and out the door by 7:30am. No Playtime. Then she had to sit in her car seat for an hour while we fought traffic down to Scottsdale. Once there she had to sit in a tiny room and try to entertain herself while mommy was strapped to a fetal monitor for 45 minutes. I thought it would be best, based upon her stress at being stuck in her stroller Friday if I did not strap her in, but pulled the stroller right up next to my chair and had a bunch of toys with in both her and my reach. When strapped to the fetal monitor there is no moving no, turning, no getting up, no helping Grace... it's just like being trapped. So, my plan was to entertain Grace with out her knowing that I could not get up... No such luck. After about 5 minutes of play she figured out she was able to get out of her stroller. Okay... think fast! "Grace, can you close the door for Mommy?" She did...Whew! Now I don't have to worry about her running around the doctors office unattended. Okay... now what? Have Grace take her shoes off. Now have Grace put her shoes back on... Grace, go get the paper from the diaper bag and draw mommy a picture. Does your baby need to be burped? How about Teddy? Can you ready Teddy a story from your book? What about Mommy's shoes? Can you take off Mommy's shoes? Great! Now can you put them back on? All of this takes about 5 more minutes... Now we are only 10 minutes in and we have like 35 to go.... What now?? Grace of course finds the electrical outlet and as she is poking at it with her little fingers she is looking at me, and saying "No touch!" When she realizes that I am not getting up to stop her, this becomes her game... Yes putting her fingers dangerously close to inside the electrical socket.... No amount of "No!" "Stop!" "No Touch!" "Grace, Get over here!" Is stopping her... Think fast... "Ring around the Rosies, Pocket full of Posies, Ashes, Ashes, we all fall down!" Please.... let this work.... and it does, for about 2 minutes... Grace walks to the center of the room, and shows mommy Ring around the Rosies... Then the fetal monitor catches her eye... If they were monitoring my blood pressure at this point they would have been thinking I must be about to have a stroke... Grace, as soon as she realized I would not, or could not get up did everything in her power to test that theory. She unplugged the monitor, she banged the trash can against the wall, she opened every cabinet, crawled under and into every small space she could find.... I know, I know, she's 16 months and it is so unfair of me to ask her to sit still and play nicely... but come on! The the poor child endured the 40 minute ride home... yeah right, endured.... She slept. She was supposed to nap when we got home so I could do a few things.... Why is she sleeping now??? And just think... This is my life every Tuesday morning and Friday afternoon for the next 6 weeks. I swear after this having 2 children under the age of 2 is going to be a cake walk!

Grace is now in her crib crying... "No Nap!" "Mommy!" "Momma!" "Dad-Dee!!"... so until later...