Feeding Fumbles

My friend, Val, wrote a beautiful blog about how too many mothers say "oh I'm an awful parent because I let my child do such and such." Or, "I'm an awful parent because X." She encouraged her readers to "stop the rampant negative self image problems and start trusting and loving ourselves in front of our kids." Beautiful. I agree 150%. Many mothers are negative and I know I'm guilty of it more than most. I often times feel like I'm a bad mom because of things that happen that are out of my control or because I don't spend enough time with Ben. Her blog encouraged me to change my attitude and start dwelling on the fact that I'm a good mother to Benjamin.

I am a good mother to him- but I am clearly a first time mother who does make mistakes. Instead of thinking I'm an awful parent, I'll turn those mistakes first into learning experiences and second....humor. So here's a humorous story from our house the past few days about a poor baby and his flummoxed mother. If Ben and I were to have a conversation, this is how it would have gone.....

Mom: Ben, why do you not like solid foods? They are delicious? Mommy has been trying to get you to eat them consistently for 2 months but you just aren't such a big fan. Sometimes you'll eat a whole bowl, but most days it's pulling teeth (or getting teeth in your world) to get you to eat one spoonful. What can mommy do to help?

Ben: Well Mother....the reason I won't eat solids is twofold: 1- when you bought my baby spoons, you failed to read the packaging before throwing them in your shopping cart. If you would have taken a few more minutes to carefully look, you would have seen that the spoons you bought me are for 10+ months and are CLEARLY too big for my mouth. 2- Vegetables are gross (except butternut squash). Fruit is gross (except prunes). All I wanted was baby oatmeal or rice cereal with milk. My immature digestive system is just not capable of handling such things.

Mom: So if I try those things, you'll eat solids?

Ben: Affirmative.

Mom: Wow.....ok thanks for filling me in. Now....what about getting you to sleep through the night????

Ben: Mwahahahahahahaha

Not kidding.....I bought ginormous spoons and have been trying to feed Ben with them for 2 months. It's like shoving a ladle in your mouth. Poor kid. And my pediatrician said to go ahead and try veggies, fruits, yogurt etc. So I did....perhaps I was a bit zealous in my concoctions and he was about as big a fan of those as the city of Boston is of Johnny Damon. I tried plain cereal the other day and he chowed down. 3 days in a row now....eating cereal like a champ.

So yes, I am a good mother to Ben. I love him, and take care of him the best I can....but clearly my mothering is depraved. At least I'm still very new at it. He's no worse for the wear I'm sure and I'll be able to laugh and share these stories with him later.

By the way, several people alerted me that they couldn't post comments on this blog....we changed out privacy settings and now you can! Post away!