Dinner Time Disasters

Ahhh, dinner time with small children. I've heard and seen all of the horror stories:

Sitting at the table until all hours of the night with an exhausted, crying child.

Food being spit, thrown and sometimes even spewed all over themselves, you and the surrounding area.

Last nights veggies being warmed back up for the child at breakfast.

Recently at our house, we've entered the "Dinner-Time Destruction Zone." DUN-DUN-DUN.

Saturday night took a turn for the worst. We have been watching a niece and nephew all weekend, who by the way ate their dinner just perfectly. We had the classic "kids-meal" of mac and cheese, chicken hot dogs, and mixed steamed veggies. (Hey, it was better than the Happy Meals they had the night before!)

I was hoping Montana would see the example set by her cousins on eating all their dinner and follow suit. I think the pressure may have gotten to her and in fact made it WORSE!

So, in order to get her to eat, I was feeding her. Sure, I may have even said something mean like, "I guess mommy needs to come feed you like a baby." The sarcasm didn't phase her at all. In fact, she even played along. "Mmmm...whats that, Mama? Carrot?" And I'm thinkin' ,"Oh sure, like you're super interested in carrots. Don't try to fool me, chic, I know your games!"

But, much to my surprise, she totally opened her mouth and started chewing. What I didn't realize, was that I was adding to her food storage, chipmunk style. After a few more bites of peas and carrots, I realized Miss Thing was stuffing her cheeks full of food.

"Swallow it." I start telling her. She starts to make that gag face, like right before she spits her food out, which is becoming quite the common game as well.

"No. If you spit that food out, you are going straight to bed and no ice cream." (Said ice cream had been promised to our niece and nephew AND Montana as a treat all day. We were all waiting for Montana to finish.)

Still, after a few minutes of slosshing around the mush in her mouth and no sign of swallowing, I said, "Okay Daddy, get Montana's jammies. She's going to bed."

"NO!" Montana would scream.

"Okay," I'd say, "Then you better swallow what is in your mouth right now! If you don't swallow it, I'm going to put you to bed and Daddy is going to take Blake and Maryn to get ice cream without you."

"No...no leave without me!" Montana would shreik.

"Well, then swallow your food!"

This conversation went back and forth for much longer than it should have. We REALLY wanted to be able to be successful. I didn't want her to miss out on the ice cream, I didn't want her to have to go straight to bed, all upset. But, we decided that was what was going to be necessary. I picked her up and said, "We're going to bed. Daddy's taking Blake and Maryn to ice cream, and Mommy's sad she has to put you to bed because you won't swallow your dinner into your tummy."

"My tummy?" Suddenly acting clueless. "Okay. I will."

Next thing I know, the storage in her mouth is beginning to dwindle. She's starting to swallow. I run out to the garage where Marc is strapping the kids into the car.

"WAIT!" I called, "She's swallowing her food! We can go!"

I strap her into the car and say, "Let me see your mouth that you swallowed all your food."

She proudly displayed her empty mouth and so I got in the passenger seat and we were off to 31 Flavors.

The only problem about this seemingly happy ending, was that I think I may have let it go to far. She didn't finish her dinner. She mearly finished the food in her mouth. Marc and I discussed on the way to get ice cream how its hard to teach EVERY lesson at once- "Swallow your food. Don't spit it out. Eat all your dinner if you want to dessert." Etc. So, I felt just the smallest bit of satisfaction with teaching her that she needs to swallow her food. I think she ALMOST believed she would go to bed ice cream-less. But, really, I don't know.

However, the last few meals she's eaten since then, she has cleaned her plate completely. I've had to sit with her and make sure she takes another bite and sometimes feed it to her, but meal time has been more of a success than a failure.

But, like all things we teach our toddlers, we wonder how long the "cooperative" and "uncooperative" phases will last. This last week she was great at sleeping. The week prior, was H-E- double hockey sticks. So, yes, right now I will bask in the joy of her empty plates and food storage-less cheeks, knowing that I sent my child to bed with a full tummy.

Next week, may be a different story.