Calling a truce

Since my last post, I have felt badly about Eric and myself always being the heavy, trying to make Elaina eat. Sunday came along and I was off to a baby shower followed by some errands. Basically, this meant that Eric was in charge of both mealtimes by himself. I felt guilty, but it also felt good to have the mealtime break from nagging that I so desperately needed.

Just past dinnertime, I called home to check in and let Eric know I was on my way home. He let me know that Elaina refused to eat lunch and also refused dinner. Hmmm. Sooo, did he not feed her anything I wondered. And since he was in charge and I was away, I can't argue with his method and discretion. I later learned that she ate a mini box of raisins. Oh. I guess he was testing the theory of "She'll eat when she's hungry."

Along about 1:30 in the morning I begin to hear Elaina gasping and crying from down the hall. She had thrown up in her bed. She didn't present any sign of a fever, but continued to get sick consistently and dry heave for the next 4 hours. With me by her side. Finally some soda crackers settled her stomach and she was able to sleep. Eric got Lincoln off to the babysitters house (since I had planned on trying to get some sleep myself) and Elaina woke around noon just as fresh as a daisy. I don't know what her deal was last night, but I'm glad that it's over and behind us.

As for the food battle, that's enough. I'm done. I'm through. I quit. This is not to say that we won't continue to encourage and bribe her to try new foods, but when it's all said and done, she's going to win out and eat whatever junk she needs to fill her tummy. I now know where that old saying that I detest got us ("eat when she's hungry") and I'm not having it.

Amazingly enough, the dinnertime battle began to escalate tonight and with some stroke of magic, luck, karma and the sheer grace of God, Elaina ATE! I know! SHE ATE!! Tears of joy nearly filled my eyes when she ate a whole 1/4 of a Hillshire Farms Cheddarwurst sausage. Really, of all things! Her reward was a cookie and pudding, just like she had requested instead of eating. She ended up liking it, (she said) and I even took her picture eating her new choice entree and labeled leftovers with her name on them to try again tomorrow. It's very important to duplicate for her so she doesn't forget.

So there you have it, miracles really do come true and we may just be onto a good healthy start for something new. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm just on cloud 9 because my child ate something new. See how desperate I am?