Tuesday 22 May 2012

The Bribe

Rowan just completed his second-to-last "big boy" swimming lesson.  And by "big boy", I mean going in the pool by himself with the instructors.  Its been truly unbelieveable the transformation we have seen in just 9 weeks of lessons.

To our surprise, he was that kid at swimming lessons who threw himself down on the pool deck, kicking and screaming that he wasn't.  going.  in.  the.  pool.  period.  It wasn't pretty- in fact, it was downright embarassing, catching the attention of people even behind the glass in the viewing area.  A few weeks went by, and it really didn't seem like it was getting any better.  There was a 2:1 ratio of teachers in Rowan's class- 4 kids, 2 teachers, and good gawd, they had a run for their money with him!  The amount of coaxing that they tried...I tried...Glen tried...

Then, the light went on.  Revisit potty training incentives...and gave him a "special package" that he could open if he went the WHOLE swimming lesson without crying.  Unbelieveable.  It was like he was a whole new kid.  4 weeks and counting (and 4 new engines later...)- not a tear shed, and he's actually asking when it's Tuesday so he can go to swimming lessons. 

Today, he did everything his teachers asked him, wore the lifejacket like all the other kiddies, did front float, back float, put his face in the water to dive for rings, and participated in all the games.  They told me, with surprise, "I think we are actually going to pass him".  (love that they said that with both a question and disbelief tones in their voices!)

I know its flat-out bribery, but it works.  And I much prefer to call it reward-based learning.

Thursday 3 May 2012

Food Issues

We have food issues in our house.

Miss G is about as picky as they come.  It took some time to get her onto purees, and when we was little, we had only a short (1 month- maybe!) honeymoon stage of her eating pretty much anything we spooned into her mouth.  She had a gag reflex that just wouldn't go away.  And meat?  We've had to hide it in other food since day 1. 

Fast forward to now- just turned 1 year old, and we're on 6 straight weeks of eating nothing but bananas, muffins (or some sort of close bread family friend) and, on the odd occasion, greek yogurt.  Yup- thats it. 

We present options- every meal, she's offered a smogasboard of what the rest of the family is eating- and she just sits there.  Staring at us.  And eventually, starts to yell and point across the kitchen at the bananas, or yell again long enough until we dropped some toast infront of her. 

I've stooped low enough to start baking Miss G "Custom" Muffins...my latest batch were Applesauce/Bran/Prune/Carrot.  Trying to sneak in whatever possible nutrients I can.  We also started giving her a multivitamin- trying desperately to cover the basics that she is clearly too picky to get in via food.

She eats nothing from a spoon.  Her daycare provider manages to get her to eat the yogurt- me, I have to mix it with milk and throw it in a sippy cup to get her to drink it down.

And this week- we ended up in the ER at Uxbridge Cottage Hospital with a baby with a bloated stomach to the point that I couldn't even zip up her sweatshirt.  After a visit with the ER doc and a few xrays- lo and behold!  She was backed up right to the ascending colon- over 400% more fecal matter in her bowel than the average baby her age!  I guess I shouldn't have been surprised- 6 weeks of bananas and bread products will do that to you.  So, we're now on daily suppositories and stool softners to fix the problem.  Whilst still breeding our way straight back to this issue, as she's still only eating the culprits that put us in this mess.

And where do we go from here?  Suggestions welcome...please!