What they don't know

I don't know how it happened, but somehow I have become the mother of two little girls who do not eat; not with any definable regularity, that is. If pickiness were a kingdom, they would be the reigning princesses. Anna's favorite new phrase at dinner time is, "No, Mama, I can't really try it. I just can't."

So, I've had to get sneaky in my attempts to get any kind of food and/or nutrition into my offspring. Either that, or dive into a new hobby of counting the girls' ribs.

One surefire trick I've discovered? Breakfast. For some reason, I have the most luck feeding the Picky Twins at their first meal. I've learned to take advantage of this phenomenon, while it lasts. Since they'll almost always eat oatmeal, I have started cooking 4-6 egg whites into their morning bowl (I just buy the big carton of pasteurized whites), then serving it topped with berries, bananas or raisins and a dash of brown sugar. I'm also prone to sprinkling teaspoons of ground flax seed onto just about everything for a little boost of Omega-3.

(I know, Mom, it sounds gross. I can see your face from here. But it's actually very tasty, doesn't ruin the oatmeal, and, unbeknownst to my victims... err, I mean children, adds gobs of protein to keep them from wasting away.)

Since lunch and dinner are almost always no-go meals for these two, I have heaped up the snacks with whatever extras I can manage. Anna's favorite, and one that she thinks is a fabulous treat, is apple sandwiches with peanut butter. That's just thinly sliced apples instead of crackers, friends. All you have to do is give her a spreading knife and she'll go to town, just loving the idea that she "did it by herself".

Rainbow sprinkles are also magic in our kitchen, a trick shown to me by cousin Lizzie. Anna won't eat her yogurt? How about some sprinkles, sweetie? Heck, we've even added sprinkles to her spaghetti, come to think of it. Whatever works.

Speaking of spaghetti, I also do my best to make this staple food a little bit more nutritionally viable. By using pureed veggies, a la Deceptively Delicious, and whole grain pasta, I feel a little bit better about the quality of their general diet.

And when all else fails? Chocolate milk with Ovaltine has never been turned down. Sometimes it's the only thing Anna or Silvia consumes all day, it seems. Ovaltine, how I love thee.

Kids Understand Each Other

At a playdate a few weeks ago, I overheard this conversation between Anna and her friend Elijah. Anna had just gotten over a big of a stomach bug. The two kids were standing side-by-side on top of the toy box, preparing to jump off together.

Elijah, patting her arm: "I'm sorry you were sick, Anna."
Anna, nodding: "Yeah, but I won't barf on you, Elijah."
Elijah: "Okay."

Having settled matters, they grinned, held hands and ... JUMPED!

13 months

This is the month for Silvia, I can tell. It seems like right around every baby's first year there's one month in particular where they suddenly stop being an infant and become... something else. A big baby? A small toddler? A... *gulp*... child?

As of today, Silvia can walk, talk, sleep through the night, express her desires, use at least 3 ASL signs, kiss, hug and change her own diapers.

Okay, maybe not that last one. But everything else is right on the ball.

She started fully walking after Christmas and never crawls anymore. She runs about, sometimes falls, let's out a big, "Uh-oh!", and gets right back up again.

The talking started more recently, probably around her birthday. So far, she clearly and correctly says: Hi, Dada, Mama, Anna, cat, shoes, toes, juice, more, "all done", up, down and "what's that?". Silvia also points to her own nose, eyes, ears, toes and belly button when asked, which is cuter than you can even imagine such antics could be.

What amazes me more than any of her new tricks, really, is her understanding. She just seems to have comprehension all of a sudden that is so clear and accurate. When I tell her to eat, or to hand me something, or ask what she wants to drink, or to put something down, she understands and reacts. She points at pictures in books and and knows when it's a cat or a dog or a baby... or a shoe. (all the important things in life, right?) At night, I tell her it's bed time and she waves bye-bye, grabs her juice or a toy and heads upstairs, all on her own.

I blinked, I must have blinked. Because I swear, last time I really looked, wasn't she just an itty bitty little thing, rolling around on the floor and drooling on her toes?

See something similar?

Sometimes I can't see it at all, but really, these girls do look a lot alike. That's Anna in the top picture, on her 1st birthday and Silvia in the next, on hers. Or maybe the similarity is just from the cupcakes obscuring half their faces?

The effects of grandchildren