We got a high chair when Cora was perhaps eight months old. She never seemed real happy with it, and somehow it became easy to just let her crawl or toddle around the house and beg for bites of our food... you know, sort of like a puppy would do. But she's fifteen months old now, and I told Cliff, "I think we need to start eating meals at the table when the baby's here, and putting her in her high chair. After all, some day she will be dating, and she is going to look awfully silly walking around from one customer to another at a fancy diner, begging for bites, or sitting on her boy friend's lap eating morsels of his food."
I mentioned to her mom what we were doing, and she said, "She cries if we put her in her high chair."
Yesterday, our first attempt, actually went fairly well. I put some food on her tray and let her make a mess, which made Cliff shudder, but then she took bites of what we were eating and drank some milk, and I thought things might proceed nicely.
Today was a little different. She loves the corn I froze from my garden, and we had some of that left from yesterday. As much as I hate changing the diaper of a child who has had corn the previous day, I forged ahead. Cliff and I had chili, not one of Cora's favorites; but I heated up a little of yesterday's corn for her. She ate five or six bites and asked for a cracker when she saw us eating crackers with our chili. I handed her one and she broke it up into the tiniest bits you ever saw, but not one molecule entered her mouth.
I remembered how she loves American cheese, and asked if she wanted some. She did! I got a slice out and gave her a tiny bit, which she mashed between finger and thumb and played with. So I took a little cheese in my finger and thumb and held it up close to her mouth. Nothing doing. Eventually she did end up eating most of a slice of cheese, but it was tough going.
What do you do with a kid who is fifteen months old but acts like she is two years old? We will continue this experiment and see what happens.
You just keep going the way you are; she's a smart girl and will figure out the system.
ReplyDeleteShe has to adapt. Keep trudging down this path and she will eventually get the hang of it.
ReplyDeleteI have a high chair and it does get used for the little ones here at my house. I have some of my grandchildren occasionally and started sitting them in it as soon as they could sit up and eat. Their parents do the same so I didn't have to start something new. I hope you persevere. Mac and Cheese and green beans have always been one of their favorites. I fix it often because I know they'll eat it and they don't seem to get tired of it
ReplyDeleteUse cheerios or something small. Lay three of them down on the high chair tray, then count them. "One...Two...THREE!" and grab the third one and eat it. By the third time, she'll be giggling and grabbing the third one to eat it before you can.
ReplyDeleteCan you take the tray off the chair and pull it right up to the table so she feels like she is sitting at the table with you eating? Or invest in a booster seat that sits on a chair at the table. Little ones can be so stubborn and they can control what they eat at that age, ha! Good luck Wendy
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