Boy likes to pray over our meals, and one of his most memorable prayers recently included asking Jesus to "help Kate from making me eat all the yucky stuff."
It's not like I'm feeding him Brussels sprouts and creamed spinach!
I don't like to label kids, but most of the world would call Boy a picky eater. Let's go with "we're learning to try new things" (and not force ourselves to throw up at the dinner table if we don't like something). Seriously.
So we have a few rules around meals in our house:
1. What is served for dinner is for dinner. You don't have to eat it. But there will be no other food until the next meal. (We plan a small variety of sides, including his favorite carrots and broccoli, so that if he doesn't like dinner, we know he's getting some nutrition.)
2. Everybody tries two bites of everything. Small tastes are fine.
3. If you don't like the taste, the fastest way to get it out of your mouth is to swallow it.
And my personal favorite, added just for Christmas Eve when I needed an extra card to play:
4. If you puke at the table, we will assume you are too sick to open presents, and we will go directly home. (Followed by "don't think I'm kidding" and a firm "do you understand me?" I sound like my mother.)
By and large, his least favorites seem to be:
Meat products of any kind, especially if hidden in gravy, except hot dogs and hamburger patties (ground beef doesn't fly).
Noodles, even mac & cheese
Peanut butter
So, you know, that pretty much disqualifies 92% of my menu options.
But his favorites:
Cheese pizza
Carrots, broccoli & ranch (hardly a meal, but whatever)
Quesadillas
Hot dogs
Jam sandwich (I sneak peanut butter in - a tip from his last foster mom)
Yogurt (breakfast, daily)
Bananas, apples
And thank goodness he tolerates the multivitamin with iron.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Boy
We don't have a clever Internet name for him yet, so I'm just calling him "boy" - #lifewithboy. I promise it's not a sign that we don't love or adore him - we tossed around "little man", "little dude", etc but they all seemed too young. So "Boy" it is.
Boy is 7 1/2 and came to live with us a week ago, on 12/21. The week prior, we accepted the placement, planning to transition him from his previous foster family to our home after an overnight stay proved that we were a good match for each other.
It seems to me that God preserved this child for us because he has no evident challenges and yet he wasn't being snatched up by other families. A few days before we accepted placement, the story of Jericho was brought to mind in several different ways at different times. I felt God encouraging me to pray around my own Jericho, the DSHS building, and so I did. On day 4, we learned about Boy. On day 6, we accepted the placement. On day 7, we met him for the first time - the walls came tumbling down.
Boy is clever, silly, enjoyable, outgoing and very funny. He can socialize with anybody and was excited to be with us the moment we met him. He loved our car, our house, our dog, his room, and he told us so.
So 4 days before Christmas, Boy came to live with us. And he proved that I am a girl raised by a single mom. I have always enjoyed the boys at church, but I get to send those ones home. This one stays. And I like him - love him even - but he's a boy. He wants hot wheels, video games, cartoons, and to write in ballpoint pen on my furniture. I'm a girl. I want to sew, cook, shop, make and preferably keep my furniture graffiti-free.
He and Matt get along smashingly. He definitely craved a dad figure, having lived with a single mom in his last foster home, and he's responding well to Matt. Matt is in father-son heaven - cars, trucks, tools, sports, trains, etc. And he's not just another kid in the house - he's really an excellent dad. Case in point, today he coached me through a sticky parenting situation when I was home with Boy and at a loss with a choice he made. I was so grateful for his insight.
And Boy and I are bonding. He likes hugs, cooking, books (as long as I'm the one reading), and just being together, so we're finding ways to connect.
Boy's case is considered a long-term placement, and while none of us really can be sure what that means, we're happy to have him for however long.
Memphis is especially happy to have a boy of his own.
Boy is 7 1/2 and came to live with us a week ago, on 12/21. The week prior, we accepted the placement, planning to transition him from his previous foster family to our home after an overnight stay proved that we were a good match for each other.
It seems to me that God preserved this child for us because he has no evident challenges and yet he wasn't being snatched up by other families. A few days before we accepted placement, the story of Jericho was brought to mind in several different ways at different times. I felt God encouraging me to pray around my own Jericho, the DSHS building, and so I did. On day 4, we learned about Boy. On day 6, we accepted the placement. On day 7, we met him for the first time - the walls came tumbling down.
Boy is clever, silly, enjoyable, outgoing and very funny. He can socialize with anybody and was excited to be with us the moment we met him. He loved our car, our house, our dog, his room, and he told us so.
So 4 days before Christmas, Boy came to live with us. And he proved that I am a girl raised by a single mom. I have always enjoyed the boys at church, but I get to send those ones home. This one stays. And I like him - love him even - but he's a boy. He wants hot wheels, video games, cartoons, and to write in ballpoint pen on my furniture. I'm a girl. I want to sew, cook, shop, make and preferably keep my furniture graffiti-free.
He and Matt get along smashingly. He definitely craved a dad figure, having lived with a single mom in his last foster home, and he's responding well to Matt. Matt is in father-son heaven - cars, trucks, tools, sports, trains, etc. And he's not just another kid in the house - he's really an excellent dad. Case in point, today he coached me through a sticky parenting situation when I was home with Boy and at a loss with a choice he made. I was so grateful for his insight.
And Boy and I are bonding. He likes hugs, cooking, books (as long as I'm the one reading), and just being together, so we're finding ways to connect.
Boy's case is considered a long-term placement, and while none of us really can be sure what that means, we're happy to have him for however long.
Memphis is especially happy to have a boy of his own.
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