Life Lessons

I often find that I underestimate Caroline's understanding of her world. The other night, we were having a particularly challenging time with her at dinner. She was just generally unhappy about what was put in front of her to eat, despite the fact that I had prepared some of her favorite things. It was a night of taking a few bites, crying, throwing food, yelping, howling and pulling her bib off. After about the sixth time she pulled her bib off, I decided it was enough, and that she must not really be all that hungry. So, I took her out of the high chair and put her down on the floor and off she toddled toward the playroom. I said to Chris, " Well, I guess she would rather play than eat." She disappeared around the corner and, no more than 3 seconds later, she turned around and made a beeline toward the kitchen. She went straight to her high chair and stood by it with her arms outstretched, bouncing up and down. I asked her if she would like to finish dinner, and I picked her up and put her back in her high chair. Much to our surprise, she calmly and quietly scarfed down the rest of her food. Of course, we prasied her and told her what a good girl she was for coming back and then proceeded to chuckle about the whole situation for the rest of the night.
I have always said that I would not be a short-order cook for my children. If you don't like what's put in front of you, then you can wait until the next meal to eat. I think Caroline realized that it was a really, really long time until breakfast!