Well, everything I was working toward during my last couple of posts pretty much went out the window once we moved to Albuquerque. Quentin refuses to eat anything except for yogurt, cereal, quesadillas, bananas, and Spam. Everything has changed since we don't go to the pavilion and our "furnished" apartment doesn't have chairs for the counter top height table, only two very small ottomans and since our torsos aren't super long we can't use the table. We only have a booster chair for Quentin that now sits on the floor as do we around the coffee table.
Quentin has also been cranky a lot. I'm not sure if he's just adjusting or if he's sick or teething. The last two times we went to the grocery store he's had complete melt downs where I desperately pack him around and feed him food from the cart. Totally unacceptable. I've started bringing cereal with me everywhere just to keep him calm.
Even though we have to eat on the floor in the living room I try to keep the tv and computers turned off so we can at least pretend we're having a normal family meal. I'm thinking that maybe we can pick up a table and chairs at IKEA or a garage sale and then we can use it when ever we get a house since we don't have one.
I did really enjoy the article "A Parenting Recipe for Raising Healthy Eaters" a Guest Post From Sarina Behar Natkin of Grow Parenting I found on Pinterest. It combines some things that you find in the French books with some ideas that make it a little easier to actually implement. My favorite suggestion was about getting their kids to try food. This is key for French parenting and it totally seems easy and obvious, but Quentin is one stubborn little boy who won't try anything unless you pry his mouth open. The author said that if the kids don't want anything being served they let them have fruit or yogurt. They don't make their kids try anything because they don't want them to have negative ideas about certain food. They put them on the table and they eat them in hopes that their good example will rub off on them.
I think it might be good to talk about how fun it is to try new food in addition to setting a good example. My mom loves vegetables and was always a great example of healthy eating, but because my dad had a bad attitude about certain vegetables it gave us kids a good reason not try them (like sweet potatoes and squash, some of my favorites now). A lot of food I never liked as a kid are now my favorites, but it took me a really long time to realize it. Maybe that's ok.
The great thing about living in Albuquerque is the fantastic weather. It's sunny all the time so we can go for walks a lot. We also have three libraries within three miles and all three have story time. We could go three times a week. The LDS church on the West side has zumba three times a week for free and they have toys so the kids just hang out on the side (I went this morning and boy am I tired and sore! I have to watch Q because he sneaked up on me twice and I stepped on his poor little hands both times). So we could do something every morning of the week except for Sunday.
Quentin has been sleeping a lot better now that he has his own "room." It's actually still a closet, but it's bigger and on the other side of the apartment. We thought we would put him in the other bedroom, but it's really bright and noisy. Our upstairs neighbors are pretty active and the first couple nights were tough because they kept waking him up.
I'm thinking about starting to wean Quentin. He's definitely not showing signs of disinterest and it's not really a bother, but he's getting older and I'd like to do it before we move again.
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