Happy Hump Day, and therefore, another edition of What I Ate Wednesday! I’ve shared a day of what my toddler eats twice already (first time and second time), and now it’s time for round three.
Feeding Avery isn’t as easy as just a few weeks ago. Apparently, as the get older they get this growing sense of independence and being more self-aware which leads to toddler regression. Our patience levels are being tested on a daily basis, and from what I understand, it’s not going to get better any time soon. Yikes!
Guess now would be a good time to seriously look into meditation. I’ve been interested for a while, but haven’t made the commitment to fully immerse myself in the mindful practice. Any thoughts or advice?
Anyway, lets kick off another round of what my toddler eats in a day. Just as before, we don’t make a lot of substitutions for Avery, so what she eats, is essentially what we eat. Make sure to show some WIAW love and check out the host’s blog as well as everyone’s day of good eats.
Lunch – Coconut curry quinoa and black beans with Wild Planet sardines on top. I’m still amazed that she’ll eat sardines, and even yell “Fishy!” when she sees them.
I didn’t take a picture, but she crunched on a few Go Raw Pizza Flax Snax Crackers after finishing her lunch. I may or may not of had a few the rest of the bag myself.
Since she had quite a bit for lunch, Avery wasn’t too hungry after her nap, so my wife and I spent the non-eating time in a more constructive manner. Selfies with our DSLR camera and a 50 mm lenses.
Obviously, not easy.
Dinner – Slow-cooker local chicken thighs with stewed veggies and a potato.
I crisped the chicken skin in the oven to use as a flavorful topping.
A little goes a long way and it was a hit with both of my lovely ladies!
Thus ends another day of eats in the Going household. I’d say with the non-stop energy Avery has, something in the food is helping…..a lot!
Have a great Wednesday and rest of the week!
Have you ever used chicken skin as a topping?It’s like bacon, but chicken…and skin. 🙂
Going Mom loves taking on projects inside and out of our home. She usually takes them on by herself, but this weekend our family of three all joined in. There were several moving parts, but it all revolved around dirt, and lots of it!
Kelley is full of great ideas for our home, but, much to her dismay, I tend to stray in this area. If it was up to me, I’d seek the the help of professional lawn care services. Something like https://www.lawncare.net/service-areas/california/ around where we live would be first on my list!
I focus more on what to cook for our family and of course keeping active. Good thing a big requirement of her backyard project entailed moving dirt, which fit perfectly with being active and working together as a family. Win-Win!
I made sure to stay on track with my squat every day program, and then it was time to get dirty together. Actually, compared to my hardworking wife, I didn’t get as dirty. I did the grunt work of digging up our existing dirtsoil crappy clay with rocks and carrying it out with a wheelbarrow to a dirt dump site nearby and then moving the 4 cubic yards of dirt you see in our driveway.
The first half felt like it took forever to even make a dent in the pile, but the second one went much faster. Kelley did the dirt-y work (I crack myself up) by getting into the dirt to spread it around in the 3 garden sections she made. Basically, my dirty level paled in comparison to hers. When she sets her mind on a project, she doesn’t mess around! (Seriously, I’m on fire!)
Speaking of mess, our little toddler, who’s growing more defiant each day, “helped” by getting in the dirt with Mommy and falling several times. I mean feet flying in the air kind of falling; it was hilarious, but only because she didn’t get hurt. As long as she was outside (one of her favorite words right now), she was all smiles.
That’s a lie, of course there were a few meltdowns, but nothing that serious. Oh, and stopping everything to announce that a plane was overhead and waving.
That waving, it’s serious business.
All weekend long, Kelley was hard at work with one mission; finish the project! She wouldn’t let anything stand in the way either. Well, besides this tree….
….but only that was temporary. Although I claim to not care that much about landscaping, I’m impressed by and enjoy seeing what my wife created in our backyard. It was great working on the project together and I loved taking on the labor of moving out the old dirt and bringing in the new. But I can’t take all the credit, Avery did walk around making sure to stand right in the way as we moved around.
She was just making sure Mommy and Daddy weren’t slacking. Which, I didn’t take the best pictures here, but obviously the end result looks good to me.
Back left cornerBack right cornerBack middle right sideBack middle left side
Let me reiterate, all of the good looks come from Going Mom, I just took and dumped dirt as directed by the boss. Oh, and found humor lurking around the new trees…
Kelley had planned to tackle this project several weeks ago, but things kept getting in the way. Spending time together with my girls as we worked on a project together made for a quality (albeit dirty) bonding experience, and left good vibes throughout our home. I even installed a new faucet Kelley happened to pick-up at the store while I was away at the At-Home Dads Convention.
“Accomplished” is the word of the weekend in our home, with an equal side of love and happiness.
Did you do anything fun this weekend?
Are you the project planner in your home, or tend to avoid them as I do?
Going from baby to toddler is big step for our kids. They start talking, eating, and sleeping (usually) better. For us, things were going good and Avery was doing better with the big three, but then, something happened, she began to regress!
*Gasp*
After looking into it a bit (i.e. Googling), it’s apparent that toddler regression is a thing. As a matter of fact, our little crazy clones go through many regressions from birth to, well, uh….we have some years…..
Seeing as to how we are just under 2 years into the parenting game, I’m sure there are plenty more signs we have yet to experience, but until then, here’s the 3 we have dealt/are dealing with.
Sleep
Sleep was the first thing that started to wane for Avery. We had a good thing going. She’d move around and talk to herself when we put her down for the daily nap and nighttime, but never really make a big fuss. But now, starting a couple weeks ago, she gets upset and will scream and cry for what seems like forever before entering a slumber state.
… a baby or toddler, who’s been sleeping well, suddenly (often without any warning) begins waking frequently at night and/or refusing to nap during the day. These regressions usually last for a period of time (anywhere from 2 – 6 weeks); then, your baby or toddler’s sleep should return to its normal patterns.
I’d put major emphasis on the “should” part of this explanation! Here’s a list of symptoms/reasons our kids regress around the 2 year mark:
Growing sense of independence (18 month olds are learning to exert their own wills, and are likely to resist doing something they don’t want to do — like going to bed)
Awake time is getting longer (this explains why your 2 year old’s sleep schedule may suddenly start falling apart)
Separation anxiety may resurface (separation anxiety tends to improve after 18 months, but it may suddenly re-appear when your toddler is about 2)
Naps may suddenly stop (we usually advise parents to treat their 2 year old’s naptime resistance as a phase, and to avoid eliminating naps altogether)
Big transitions may be happening at home (many 2 year olds are facing transitions like moving to a big kid bed, awaiting the birth of a new sibling, or potty training — and all of these transitions disrupt sleep)
Nighttime fears appear at this age (your imaginative 2 year old may suddenly feel afraid of the dark, or of monsters in the closet, and that can affect naps and bedtime)
For us, I’m thinking the nighttime fears from a growing mind and separation anxiety are high on Avery’s list. We need to keep that naptime just as much as Avery, so hope that doesn’t go quite yet!
2. Eating
Next to go was our accepting eater. We would give her a book to read and most days she’d accept whatever we had for dinner that night. And *gasp* Going Mom and I could even hold a real conversation some of the time!
But that’s gone now. We have to change our eating game plan several times for each meal, even bite, since she simply refuses the same food she used to happily consume. Avery is even back to throwing food on the ground, which hadn’t happened in a while.
Much along the same lines for sleeping, I blame that darn sense of growing independence as the major culprit for her acting out when eating.
I’m eating this now because I WANT to!
Yeah, I didn’t ask her to eat the apple, she wanted it right then and there. But if were were at the dinner table and that same apple was on her high chair tray, it’d be on the ground. #firstworldproblems
3. Back talk
When they know “no”, it feels as if everything falls apart, true? Kelley and I paused and grew silent the first time we hear that small, but oh so powerful word escape our sweet girl’s mouth. We tried so hard to avoid using the word, but somehow, some way, it must’ve slipped….a lot.
Damn….I mean shi…I mean crap! Yeah, probably happened similar to that.
We tried to simply ignore it at first, but her use of “no” only grows more frequently each day. Just like that damn independence! I tell ya, it’s a troublemaker! It’s so bad now, that even her animal sounds all come out as “no”.
So yeah, I think it’s safe to say we have a toddler regression on our hands. I guess, according to my Google searches, there will be more to come, so just like parenting as a whole, we’ll take it all in stride.
We’re not there yet, but I hear potty training regression is common too. Since we have yet to experience potty training, besides that one day, I kept it off the list. If you’re dealing with potty training regression, feel free to add a 4th sign to the list and do some reading!
Are you currently or do you remember going through toddler regression with your kid(s)?
If so, do you have any tips to share or did you just let it pass?
An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.
