Maturing

I don't know if it's his age, his recent surgery, or all of our skillful parenting (cough, cough), but Ryan seems to have matured so much in the last couple of weeks. It's so neat to see some things we've been working on with him suddenly come to fruition! One case in point is dinnertime. Ryan is not a big eater, and he is very picky. However, I refuse to cater to him so we serve him the same thing that everyone else is eating for dinner. Our rules are pretty simple: He must eat one bite of everything, and if he doesn't like it after one bite, he doesn't have to eat any more. Daddy and I think we're being more than fair since we were both required to eat more than one bite of things we didn't like (I can still gag thinking about the pile of banana squash I had to choke down).

Ryan used to eat whatever I gave him until one fateful day in December when he was about ten months old. He just stopped, and he's never resumed since. It's been a battle at dinner time for over three years. I decided we probably picked the wrong battle and should have never made an issue out of it, but having picked the battle, we stuck with it. Well, one or two nights before we moved, Ryan ate his bites without the usual disciplinary actions required! I asked Daddy if he thought we'd turned a corner, and he said, "No." I didn't either, but one can hope.

Well, I am so joyful and pleased to report that we haven't had to discipline him to take his bites since that day! What a difference it makes in our dinner time. I still wish he would eat more, but he's taking his bites and not fussing about it! He has even decided he liked a few of the things he had to taste. I have been a parent long enough to know that he may regress, but for now we are savoring the sweet taste of victory!! I'm so proud of you, Ryan!