Loving His Veggies

As I have mentioned in the past, getting Kyle to eat is a bit of a challenge. I am always in search of new things for him to try in an attempt for him to get the proper amount of nutrition. As I was browsing through a magazine recently, I noticed an advertisement for V8 V-Fusion. V-Fusion is a juice drink which is fruit flavored, but includes the recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables. Kyle is a big "drinker" so I immediately went to the store so Kyle could have a taste test. Well, needless to say Kyle is addicted to the new drink! The drink comes in a variety of flavors, but Kyle's favorite is the strawberry/bananna combination. Of course, I would love if he ate veggies, but at least with this new drink he is getting some veggie nutrition. So, if you know of anyone who is lacking the proper amount of fruits and vegetables in their daily diet this is a great alternative.

Yummy....Chocolate

We have a chocolate lover on our hands!! At last, in one eating department he is taking after his Mommy and Daddy...LOL! Below, Kyle is eating his yummy desert....pudding!! Granted, he isn't the neatest eater around...as you can see in the picture it's on his mouth, shirt, and hands. For now we will be happy with whatever he puts in his body (food wise, that is) and work on the eating etiquette in the future. Kyle really wants to be a nice little brother and share the pudding with Chloe, his dog, but since chocholate is toxic for dogs we must monitor this very closely.

With Kyle's new acquired taste, he would be very excited to see plenty of chocolate candy in his Easter basket. I'm sure he will be quite disappointed since he will only receive one or two pieces. Poor little guy...he is so deprived :)

Mmmmm....Yummy, Yummy, for my

Tummy, Tummy, Tummy!!

What's For Dinner?

Parenting sure can be hard! I'm sure every parent encounters certain challenges when raising a child. I have always been a worry wart and becoming a mother, especially to a 25 weeker, certainly hasn't helped me in this department. One of the main struggles we have had with Kyle since he was a baby is eating. Unfortunately, this still is a constant, daily struggle in our life. Recently, I was reading a parenting magazine which stated that toddlers don't need to eat as much since they aren't growing as rapidly as when they were infants. The article also stressed the importance of giving your toddler a vitamin. We have always been very diligent about giving Kyle vitamins...he loves the My First Flintstones...especially the grape flavor! Kyle grows up (height), but doesn't grow out (weight). I've come to the realization that Kyle will most likely be a string bean for many years to come. I can't believe he is my son because I LOVE to eat...LOL!

In the past I've heard a lot of hype about a book called Deceptively Delicious. I recently purchased the book and am on a mission to locate some good recipes to assist with Kyle's eating...mainly in the vegetable department. Unfortunately, Kyle has two bad eating habits; the first being the fact he is a big snacker and second, he loves to drink (milk and juice). We need to work on limiting intake in these two areas to make sure he is hungrier at mealtime. Does anyone have any great recipes from this book or any other cookbooks geared to feeding children? Hopefully, the book will have some brilliant ideas to help me answer the question...What's for dinner? If I locate any that Kyle particularly enjoys I will be sure to share them with everyone...because if Kyle will eat it...it must be good! I would love to hear any great ideas that may help me answer the question as well. Thanks!

Grocery Shopping

Yes, another random post.

Do you ever feel like you need to explain purchases you make at the grocery store to the cashier? I do. Sometimes I don't mind explaining certain things, but others (especially purchases for Kyle) I do mind. For instance last night, I went grocery shopping and bought several jars of vegetable baby food for Kyle. The person who checked me out always asks about Kyle and how old he is. Last night she asked me how old he was as she was scanning the baby food. I felt compelled to explain that he is almost three and yes I still feed him baby food from time to time to make sure he eats vegetables. Why do I feel the need to explain? I'm not sure, but I still do.

The funny thing is I try and avoid this particular cashier. When Kyle was a baby and people we didn't know would ask how old he was I would tell them his adjusted age (his due date - Jan. '06) instead of his actual age (Oct. '05) to avoid explaining the fact he was a preemie. John always gave his actual age so this caused a few issues. This cashier at the grocery store was told one age by me and another age by John. We always tried to avoid going to her line to avoid being asked how old Kyle was and neither of us knowing what to say. Is that sad we didn't know how old our son was? We laugh about it now, but at the time it was actually stressful. Now that Kyle is older we don't use his adjusted age so it makes things a bit easier. At least in that department.

E Is For...

EATING

Unfortunately, feeding has been one of the hardest struggles we have had with Kyle. I'm not sure why I decided to highlight this on the blog since it was never an enjoyable time. The pictures below of John and me are probably the only times we were smiling while feeding Kyle. To this day, eating is still a tremendous challenge, but it is slowly getting better. I assume everyone has their major challenge in raising their children...I guess eating is just ours. There weren't many pictures to choose from for this entry, since that is one time of day the camera is far away...LOL.

Mommy and Kyle

November '05 Poppy and Kyle (my Dad)

February '06

Daddy and Kyle

March '06

Kyle eating sweet potatoes. May '06

I'm not sure if he got more "in" his body or "on" his body. 1st Birthday Cake October '06

ABC's of Blogging

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