Once Ruth Ann moved from baby food in jars to real table food I became a bit picky about what she would have for her meals. Most of her meals include a meat & fruit or meat & veggie. If she hasn't eaten enough during the day she gets all three. When we first started introducing meats the ONLY meat I could get her to eat was a Chick-fil-a chicken nugget...can't say I blame her, they are delicious little nuggets. Anyway, we went through countless kids meals but I never let her eat the waffle fries. I realize she was having a little breaded & fried piece of chicken, but I've decided to draw the line at french fries. I also don't buy Goldfish crackers, or cookies of any variety...mostly for fear that I'll adopt the policy "One for Ruth Ann, One for Momma" and that can get me into a world of trouble. Ruth Ann is also a very healthy 60th-ish percentile weight ranking child, so her snacks consist of cheese sticks, Yo-Baby, and graham crackers (I realize it's a carb, but at least it's still one step away from a cookie...and I don't crave graham crackers, so it's safe to have it in my pantry). Now this is most definitely not because I'm a nutrition expert...if you know me personally you also know my waist size proves that I don't tend to watch what I eat. But that is exactly the reason I haven't let Ruth Ann be exposed to the power a carbohydrate can have on your life...I've seen her future if she doesn't learn good eating habits and folks, it's not pretty! Never am I more aware of this power than when I'm on the South Beach Diet. Arch & I have been on The Beach since January 4th and though I love the results (I'm currently 15 lbs. down)...I hate the way I feel when I go through carb withdrawal and I never want Ruth Ann to know what this discomfort feels like. Geez, that was a lot of talk just to make the point that Ruth Ann hasn't eaten french fries...however, this is the first thing you need to know.
Second, most of you know either from seeing Ruth Ann live & in person or from reading the blog that we've been using the videos Baby Signing Time to help build a signing vocabulary for Ruth Ann. There are 4 videos in this series and we got in a rut and mostly just watched Video 1. Then a few weeks ago I decided to see what the other videos have to offer. Video 2 covers "please", "thank you", & "sorry"...I think sorry is over her head right now at her very self involved age of 14 months, but it's never too early to work on good manners, so we've been spending a lot of time working on please and thank you. She's good at doing them when asked, but this weekend we had a break through and I owe it to the power of a carbohydrate...
Now, at long last, here's the story I wanted to share...On our road trip we ate dinner with my Aunt Jill on Saturday night at a delicious BBQ restaurant. I had BBQ & a veggie, Ruth Ann had BBQ and a veggie, but my aunt got BBQ & french fries. Ruth Ann didn't show much interest in her meal, but she had an eye on those fries. My aunt finally crumbled to Ruth Ann's begging...not me, I'm immune to her begging and actually turn a little deaf when it starts...and asked if Ruth Ann could have a fry. I said sure since we were on vacation, but she had to sign "please" to get the fry and then "thank you" once she got it...and after the first or tenth fry she did...all on her own! I was shocked! But to make it even more amazing she also signed her first 2 word utterance when she signed "More Please"!! Maybe I'm amazed because I spent 2 years of college in Speech Pathology classes...which I didn't enjoy and these same classes are what pushed me into Audiology...and one of the few things I remember is that 2 word utterances aren't expected until age 2! I don't think these same researchers who set the norms for language acquisition were using french fries or any other delicious carb for that matter when developing their normative data! Apparently this was all Ruth Ann would do this for because since then she's back to being asked to say "please" & "thank you"...maybe I'll get the fries at Chick-fil-a the next time we stop into eat...which will most likely be this week since we go at least once a week...and test my theory that the power of carbohydrate can make a child do anything!
1 comment:
Hey Tara,
They have the garden variety of the goldfish that is really good for tots. I give them to Allie-Ann and she loves them, they also have whole wheat goldfish which are a more healthier options as well. Yes, I try to make sure she gets all the good foods in her diet early because it makes a difference when they get older. Allie-Ann uses her sign for "more" a lot at the table, we are working on please and thank you, all she says is "eeesse", for please, and "ank ou" for thank you, it's so cute.
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