This Week in Mommyhood

Cati had her 18-month appointment this week and she is "growing by the book" according to her doctor. She is currently 24 lbs and 32" tall. The weight was one of the things I was concerned about because she hadn't been eating much with all the teething, but the doctor reassured me by telling me she is growing fine and that I should continue doing what I have been doing.

The way feeding looks around here has changed quite a bit since Cati hit 15 months. She started refusing vegetables and mealtime turned into a battle. I gave up on the high chair and I stopped pushing foods on her. If she didn't want vegetables then I didn't give them to her. If she didn't want meat or chicken then she didn't have to eat them. I started setting up little bowls with different foods and I let her feed herself what she wanted when she wanted. It was hard adjusting to this because she was such a good eater and I had more control over what and how much she ate. Parenthood is all about losing control and ever since I cut us both some slack, mealtime has been much more enjoyable. While I wanted Cati to have a well-rounded diet, my goal always was to have her eat what we eat and ever since I eased up Cati has been doing just that. Today, for example, we had burgers for lunch and tacos for dinner and Cati ate what we ate. She'll come to like things the older she gets or she'll like things we hate, like the olives she had with dinner yesterday. I don't want her to have bad memories of us forcing food on her and I would prefer her to have a positive relationship with food and openness to new foods and she won't have that if mealtimes are always a battle where her voice is drowned out because we are making her eat things she doesn't like.

Here are the fun developments from this week:

Thank You, Unprompted. The girl is finally getting manners! I always say "gracias" whenever Cati gets something and sometimes she'll actually repeat it back, but this week she actually started saying it all by herself. Now, if only she could be consistent!

Changing Tastebuds. How many of you have tried polyvisol? I personally think that stuff is disgusting. Cati used to think it was disgusting too and she would gag every time I gave it to her. Somewhere along the line though, that changed and now she loves the stuff. She will actually go to the kitchen, say "ahm ahm" and point until I give it to her. Then she'll get mad when I don't give her anymore.

Big Girl Sleeper. This has been, by far, the most impressive thing that's happened this week: Cati will ask to be put in her crib when she's tired and ready to sleep. I thought it was a fluke the first time she did it because I couldn't believe she'd actually want to go in her crib to nap, but when I put her in her crib after she went up to her crib and pointed inside, she fell asleep without any fussing. Toward the end of the bedtime routine she'll start asking for her "wau wau" (her lovey bunny) because she's ready to go to sleep. It's so amazing. For as much as I want to call her my baby, she's not a baby anymore and little things like this are reminders of how much she is growing.

I start school this week, Cati gets to meet a new babysitter, and Alex starts a new rotation. Here's hoping for success on all fronts as our family adjusts to a new routine and a new normal.