It’s funny (or not so funny, depending on your perspective) how Audrey has started asserting her independence. We’ve always been able to depend on her eating habits. The girl is like both of her parents – she LOVES to eat. When we ask her if she wants one of her favorite foods (anything sweet) she clenches both of her fists in the air and squeezes them so tight that her little arms shake as she says “ohhhh!” with eyes wide as can be. One such favorite food is mandarin oranges – at least they are on a “normal” day (whatever that is).
I was going through our morning routine with Audrey, getting her dressed and feeding her a breakfast usually consisting of a cereal bar or toast and some type of fruit, when I made the new-mommy-of-a-toddler mistake of making a big deal out of giving her the mandarin oranges. In my naive mind, it made perfect sense to oooh and ahhh over the fruit that I knew she loved to eat. THIS morning, however, Audrey was determined to take a stand and assert her own brand of stubbornness. As soon as I plopped those oranges on her tray, she turned into the orange nazi. How DARE I think that she would want to eat this fruit that just the day before she had devoured in mere seconds. Oh, no, THIS day, Audrey decided that oranges didn’t belong on her tray, they didn’t belong in her hands and they DEFINITELY didn’t belong in her mouth. Being just as stubborn as she and determined not to let perfectly good oranges go to waste, I promptly announced that I would pack them in her lunch so she could eat them later.
When I dropped her off at Angie’s for the day, I shared the breakfast drama and warned Angie that she may not be too fond of the oranges that day. So what does the little stinker do at lunch? According to Angie, she refused to eat ANYTHING BUT THE ORANGES!
We’re slowly learning that the key to living with a toddler is to just go with the flow. It makes Audrey feel so “grown-up” when she can decide what she does and doesn’t want to do. I’ve learned to ask her what she wants instead of assuming. That’s probably a lesson I should apply to more of my relationships. Thanks, Audrey, for keeping us on our toes!
