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: Magic Cookie

Not an infant, not yet a toddler

Lately K has been protesting when we stop him from, say, eating a giant dustbunny off the bottom of an overturned footstool. But today was the first full-out display of toddlerish willfulness.

I had his dinner all ready: spaghetti with tomato sauce, green beans, and tofu, with grapes for dessert. He gobbled up two big pieces of tofu and ate a few spoonfuls of spaghetti.

Then! He saw me EAT A GRAPE. Suddenly he started refusing to eat. He closed his mouth when I brought the spoon near (even when he hates something, he NEVER does this, he just cries if he doesn't want any more), grabbed the spoon and flung the spaghetti, and warded off any further attempts at feeding. "Look," said JW, "he's making the sign for food! He wants to eat something!" "Eat something? His tray is covered with food!" Then I realized. How do you explain "no dessert until you finish your dinner" to a baby? Eventually I gave in and let him eat the grapes. I tried to sneak a few pieces of tofu on to his tray along with the grape pieces. He grabbed for them, pitched them over the edge, and returned to his grapes. JW managed to feed him most of the spaghetti afterwards, but it took quite a bit of distracting. The dinner ended with lots of yelling (on K's part) and tomato sauce everywhere.

Until now, it's gotten easier and easier to take care of K as he gets better at expressing his needs. But we may be crossing a threshold. Are we going to have two years of this?

Full post as published by Magic Cookie on January 16, 2008 (boomark / email).