I mentioned in my first post that my son has this tendency to drive me crazy sometimes. I wanted to elaborate that a little. But don't worry, this won't be totally boring, I promise. In fact, he can be downright hysterical sometimes. In a good way. Not in a tantrum causing way, though he does that too. But a little back story first.
His name is Nick and he was born 14 days late. I was the very definition of ENORMOUS and miserable, by the time he was born. He was over 9 pounds when he finally made his appearance. And he actually started screaming his head off the moment his head peeked out of my loins. He wasn't even fully born yet, and the tantrums had started. They never stopped. In fact he cried the entire time I was at the hospital. They opened the nursery doors down the hall, and I instantly heard him screaming his head off. And then it got closer and I realized, OMG...that's MY child making all that racket!
He wouldn't breastfeed for starters. I tried so hard, but he just refused to do it. And a helpful lactation consultant told me, 'wow, you sure have small nipples for such large breasts!' Thanks. I appreciate that. And the fact that you announced that to a room full of people too. That was helpful. But I guess my son did not like my nipples. Perfect. So I switched to bottle feeding. Only, he was allergic to just about everything! Even the special formulas created for allergies. After trying everything, he finally tolerated a specific brand of soy formula. ONLY that brand. Nothing else.
When he got ready to eat 'people food' he hated it all. He would throw up on me if I tried to give him anything except sweet potatoes and applesauce. He existed on nothing but that for almost a year. He also could not tolerate whole milk like you're supposed to give them. Basically, he was a serious challenge when it came to food. He still is. He won't eat meat. But he's not a vegetarian, really. That would imply that he ate vegetables. He does not.
We've taken him to doctors, nutritionists, psychologists, etc. And they all tell me the same thing. Let him eat what he wants, and he'll eventually get over it. He's 9 years old! He eats macaroni and cheese, pizza, and bean burritos. That's it. But he's very healthy and at a perfect weight. So I guess I don't worry too much, even if it means I need to make special meals for him ALL the freaking time! Any mother out there knows how annoying that is.
But Nick is also a bit of a character too. In school, he was painfully shy. He had no friends at all. He's an only child, so I guess the lack of interaction with other children hurt him. He had playmates, but a school full of strange kids freaked him out. His second grade teacher was a wonderful woman though! She made it her mission to bring Nick out of his shell. She helped him make friends. She helped him like school instead of crying every morning about having to go. She was an angel.
But then he got real comfortable being the class clown. He even convinced a substitute teacher that his name was not Nick, but Rusty Shakelford. He even wrote the name Rusty on all his papers for that day. The parent teacher conference was quite interesting after that. I'd never laughed so hard. But of course, now my painfully shy and quiet child was disrupting class with his comedy routines. He never talked before, and now he was standing in front of the class making jokes and trying to get people to laugh at him. He loved the attention.
The class play was highly entertaining. Mostly because Nick decided that it sucked and he'd rather dance around in a circle and make faces at the crowd, instead of saying his part. Everyone cracked up. So he kept doing it. I was hiding my head and I kept saying to my husband, 'he's not ours, is he?' I was embarrassed! But then again, everyone loved him, even if he did ruin the play. We call him Jim Carey now.
But his attention seeking behavior does get tiresome sometimes. He's very loud and never stops talking. And the faces! I wish he'd stop making the faces for ten minutes! It's not funny anymore! But this is just a glimpse into the life of my son. I hope it was entertaining and not too dull. Without him, I really would have nothing to talk about!
Thanks for reading!
moonstone posted on Aug 14, 2007
| views: 361
Comments
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Suddenrain said on Aug 14, 2007....
LoLoL... wow! He is a little stinker isn't he? One of my brood was like that. They outgrow it eventually. Sometimes patience is sometimes lacking. :-) Soooooo are you planning on any more?? LoL...I'm just kidding. Some kids are more difficult than others. I had one like that, a boy. Grown up now. He still wants attention all the time. But he's pretty good to me. I have found boys to be more difficult than girls. Everyone always says girls are more difficult. Not in my book. Keep pluggin away. Eventually the patience pays off and you end up with a full grown son like say,...Moonriver and his banana or silverwhisper and his trout. :-) -
moonstone said on Aug 14, 2007....
Suddenrain, I'm glad you enjoyed this! He is a stinker! But no, I'm not planning any more! I'm afraid that I can't have any more, but that's okay! One is a good number for me. I hope when my son grows up, he'll appreciate me more and be good to me too. I don't quite know who Moonriver and Silverwhisper are yet (though I saw Silverwhisper's post!) But dare I ask what they do with the trout and the banana? lol -
Suddenrain said on Aug 14, 2007....
Both are really good thought provoking writers and good people. Moon has an obsession with his banana and Silver likes to smack people with his trout. Destinydiva has a trout smacking blog you should read and check out Moons posts on his banana. Both good boys (so to speak). :-) -
secretlife said on Aug 14, 2007....
i have 3 kids. and one thing for sure is they will drive you nuts...all of my kids were different. God does that to you to keep things interesting-my son was like yours-- finicky from day 1. he was allergic to the formulas, he just refused them. i think i had just about every one on the market in my home at some point.he's 11 now.he's still finicky.he eats grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza, ice cream, burger king chicken fries, and peanut butter and jelly.i feel quite good that his palate is expanding.....LOL.i'm exaggerating a little bit. he does eat most fruits and some veggies. and he does eat potatoes.but as for family dinners? for 10 years i cooked him special ones.i would ask the pediatrician ...what am i doing wrong?i would be told...when he's hungry, he'll eat.and finally i had to relent because it was making me crazy.my son was also a slow social developer.this even though he had 2 sisters.he liked them well enough.he wasn't big on making outside friends until about the 3rd grade.your son sounds like a challenge.but i always think........there's not another one just like him out there anywhere...(THANK GOD!) -
CreativeWoman said on Aug 14, 2007....
I don't have children, but I still enjoyed your story. Hang in there.
CW
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moonstone said on Aug 14, 2007....
Suddenrain, thanks for the info! I'll have to delve a little deeper and check them all out :-) secretlife, I don't know how many times I was told, 'when he's hungry, he'll eat' My son basically would rather starve than eat something not on his 'preferred' eating list. I tried for a week to force him to eat what I made, or not eat at all. He just didn't eat. He went without dinner all that time and I felt so horrible about it, that I just caved in. It had been a week! I was afraid that was wrong. How long does it take for them to actually cave in to YOU? Maybe my son was too headstrong! lol -
moonstone said on Aug 14, 2007....
Thank you, Creative Woman :-) I'll try and hang in there! -
secretlife said on Aug 14, 2007....
i never took the tact that he was going to starve because i was always so afraid he'd rather starve than eat what he didn't like.instead, for a while, if he didn't like what we were having i'd just make him peanut butter sandwiches.i remember growing up that my parents would make me eat things i didn't like.some of those meals were brutal, and to this day, ican't look at a meatloaf!!i was desperate for a few yrs with my son, so i did things like......how about a milkshake? or a rootbeer float? my son was always very thin- so instead of fighting about food, i'd try to think of higher calorie alternatives to get something into him.he's better than he used to be. he's hardly an adventurous eater- he may never be. -
moonstone said on Aug 14, 2007....
secretlife, yes! The peanut butter sandwich. I do that all the time because it's easy and he'll eat that. I always try to get him to at least TRY what we have, and sometimes he will taste it. But he won't eat it. And I don't want to make him eat it either. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has struggled with this issue! -
Eilan said on Aug 14, 2007....
My nine-year-old is picky about food as well. She's gotten better over the years, but she still refuses to try new things unless she likes all the ingredients, and even then. . . My three youngest daughters will eat pretty much anything I put in front of them.
My oldest is also shy and quiet and a bit of a worrier.
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jadestar said on Aug 15, 2007....
wow - I like this blog - it's like Moms Of Picky Eaters Anonymous.my daughter is also picky. When she started out in life, it was a bit of a brutal labour. The kid was exhausted. She slept almost solid for 3 days. I couldn't get her to take the boob - she just wanted to sleep. But boy was there a turn around after that. First off a few cat naps seemed good enough for her to just keep going. And for the first 4 months after that all she did was hang on one boob & then the other. When I took her to the clinic for weigh-ins (one of the few times I could extract her from the boob) the sisters were incredulous at her weight gains. "What are you giving this child?" they would exclaim. I'd want to say 'sorry, you haven't been introduced to my extra appendage...see it kind of suctions on here (or here - other side) almost permanently..' She REFUSED a bottle try as I might. When she started solids it was quite a relief...but then somewhere along the line in those early days her healthy appetite petered out & she now (& has been) a Skinny Malinki picky eater.It's amazing how you can love them & want to hold them so much & at the same time want to run away as far as you can. Oh the joys of motherhood......Thank you for your share (& giving me the opportunity to share)Your kid sounds like a right character......I bet a lot of movie stars & famous people were like him when they were young....... -
moonstone said on Aug 15, 2007....
Eilan, it's nice to know that I'm not alone with the food issues. I guess for me it was really weird because I've never had a problem with eating! lol When I was a kid, I ate everything. In fact, I've become pickier as an adult, than I was as a child. My son is a worrier too. He already has some panic issues, which concern me, given how young he is. But I had my first panic attack when I was 8 years old. I guess he gets it from me, sadly.
Jadestar, another mom of a picky eater! It's frustrating sometimes, isn't it? And yes, I do believe a lot of famous people probably started out just like my son. It would be cool if he really was the next Jim Carey! I'm sure he drove his parents crazy too when he was a kid! lol
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lyssa said on Aug 18, 2007....
Lol - I enjoyed reading this one too. I'm sure he'll come around... well, actually, I am not that sure seeing that I don't have any kids.. =) -
vacantmind said on Aug 19, 2007....
He will come around, just not in the ways you expect. Don't worry Jim Carey didn't do bad for himself. Tune in to his antics a bit and allow him to put on a comedy show each week. Tell him to save his funny faces or any other crazy antics for his routine. Set a timer, I think he will love the attention and it could go on all night.
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moonstone said on Aug 19, 2007....
lyssa, thanks for reading! I'm glad you enjoyed it! vacantmind, I suppose if he turns out like Jim Carey, I won't be too disappointed! lol Rich and famous would be nice. That's a good idea to let him put on a show for us at a specific time. I do have a feeling he won't want to stop when the timer goes off! lol -
vacantmind said on Aug 19, 2007....
My son didn't want to stop either, but he was big on imitating sounds. He would find the most annoying sounds and do them all day. Until I made him use them in a story, which he had to write. We did it for about a month and then he lost interest. Occassionally we get a burst of an ambulance siren but for the most part it is quite in my house. -
jadestar said on Aug 21, 2007....
vacant - that's really clever...I'm going to use that advice myself.
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