A while ago (in days, not posts) I told y'all about HB's newfound and super-annoying pickiness about food. At that time, he was eating only an extremely small handful of foods, enough so that it was a real struggle to find 3 meals and 2 snacks that were composed of different foods of which there was even a remote chance he'd eat. Not only was the list shrinking, it was not at all balanced in terms of proteins, carbs, fats, vitamins, etc. In fact, it was pretty much an All Crackers, All The Time diet with a few raisins.

Not Ideal.

Matt and I were increasingly frustrated/anxious/upset/pleading at mealtimes, which in turn made Hosea more recalcitrant/obnoxious/upset/screamy/inappetant. Something had to give, and it did.

Matt The Invincible came up with a list of possible foods to try with Hosea (basically, anything he had ever eaten before). We also discussed and agreed upon some general guidelines in terms of both food expectations and mealtime behaviours. We wanted to offer him at least two options at every meal. We wanted him to have closer to 5-a-day of fruit/veg (he was getting closer to 1-a-day. of raisins). We wanted there to be a clear understanding that the food he was offered at a particular sitting was It, and there was no "back-up cracker" if he didn't want it. Mostly, we said out loud and agreed with each other that he was NOT going to starve if he skipped a meal or 2, and that it was going to be okay with us if he refused the food we gave him (which may sound silly, but it is kinda hard not to take it personally when you cook something tasty up to have it unceremoniously dumped onto the floor).

It really had been a rousing success. HB has loved being introduced (or reacquainted) with a bunch of produce, has become more adventurous, and generally is less obnoxious at meals. Matt and I are less anxious about what we feed him (though we do still have to repeat a carb or something in the day). It isn't perfect, by any means, but we feel like we've gone from having That Kid to having a normal, slightly fussy toddler.

Here's tonight's meal as, in my opinion, a sign of how far we've come from the cracker-n-raisins of yestermonth:

On the plate, clockwise from top: red bell pepper, tofu cubes and strips, cucumber, yellow bell pepper, baby purple spring onions, and soba noodles with toasted sesame seeds. On the side is a cashew butter- soy- sesame dipping sauce.

He didn't like the sauce, but ate everything else on the plate with gusto. Yay!

(Incidentally, this was the dinner from which his was appropriated. Yummy, but needed more spiciness.)

Yep, sorry about that. I'm a mom to a toddler, married to Matt, and trying to fit in an illicit yet steamy affair with vet school at the same time. I've been doing a lot of thinking about how to order my priorities, and blogging (at least for the next wee while) isn't high on the list. So. I'll update when I can, but no promises, and when I'm once again keeping my head above water, I'll pick up the pace a bit more.

In the meantime, what's up? Hosea just had his 17 month-day, and he's huge and cute. Staying true to the general Price February theme, he's been sick for weeks with this lame lingering virus thing. 1st, he had a high fever/lethargy/snotty nose. Last week, he got viral conjunctivitis (pinkeye), then on Saturday his eardrum ruptured due to a heretofore unknown ear infection. Special times, I tell you. Other than that, though, he's seriously awesome. He says things like "dog", "cat", "Theia", "duck", "flower", and "bus", can play along for most of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and knows several animal sounds. One of the cutest and most recent things is that if I say "Hosea! Stick 'em up!" He'll fling both hands above his head. It's hard to believe that he's so, well, toddlerish. Today Matt took him for about a 1/2 mile walk (holding Matt's hand and yes, I did measure it out on Google Earth). So cute.

Matt's been sick, too. He had his viral illness for days last week, but seems to hav mostly recovered. He's still playing in 2 of 3 church bands as well as the occasional extra gig, and has acheived "master bread baker" status, since he can pull 3 loaves out of the oven before most people are done googling a recipe. He can also braid a 6-strand challah without breaking a sweat. Yep, he's gooooood.

As for me, we finished up our equine lectures last Friday, and today we started in on exotics. By 'we', I mean 'the class', since I am running a >102f fever and got less than 3 hours of sleep last night. I crawled my way to the practical (they take attendance there, sigh), then crawled back home into bed. Hence the blogging. I'm going to Ireland over Easter to work at a clinic that specialises in foal medicine during the breeding season. We'll also try to see a sight or two since, you know, we've never traveled outside of Scotland. We'll also hug everyone's favorite friendbest, who happened to have signed up to extern at the same clinic and who will overlap me by 2 days!!! YES!!!!! I'm also doing 2 weeks of equine stuff here over Easter, and taking the remaining week to study my butt off. You know what they say, "it's better to enter the kingdom of vet medicine with no butt than to have both cheeks and work as a dog whisperer".

Anyway, that's pretty much it. I think. I'm going to put another layer on since my hands are shaking too much to type anymore.

But before I go, pictures!


Hosea carefully regards Katzen.

We call this look "The Dr. Mike"


I got to straighten my hair for the 1st time in about a year when Matt took me to the church's Burns' Night supper. I even fit into my favorite black party dress! Woo!

Hosea pretty much lives in this backpack. We bought it for a couple of specific uses (hiking in the Hermitage, going into small shops) but we really use it almost exclusively now, unless he's walking next to us.