Monday, October 21, 2013

Annie vs. Evil Mommy: The Broccoli Standoff

 


EVIL, Pure evil! It brings with it screaming, crying, and complete chaos for my 2 year old.

So far we’ve had a pretty easy road.  My old daugher (now 4 years old) never really made us suffer through the infamous “Terrible Twos”.  She's had fits here and there and is excessively stubborn, but is also people pleaser, so a tantrum in the middle of a grocery store would have been too embarrassing for her.  I didn’t truly appreciate this until my sweet, wild child Annie came along!

My 2 year old Annie is quite a character. She’s never met a stranger, you never have to wonder what she’s thinking, and she is the most hilarious person she’s ever met.  That being said, she’s also 2, VERY 2!

She decides what she wants and that’s what she’s going to get-at least that’s how her plan goes-then Evil Mommy gets in the way of toddler glory, poor Annie!

On this particular day, Evil Mommy brought out the kryptonite of Annie-Broccoli! She didn’t flinch at first, she finished everything else on the plate, then decided she was done.  She quietly climbed out of her chair, attempting to draw as little attention to herself as possible and then silently (and literally) tip-toed away from the table.  Solid plan and execution on her part: the only problem, Evil broccoli-serving Mommy saw the whole thing.

As with any good vs. evil plot, Evil Mommy soon had captured her and placed her back in the precarious position at the table, with broccoli back in her path.  She didn’t know what to do next, after all, her getaway was flawless and it didn’t even come close to tricking her evil adversary.  Then she came up with plan B-she grabbed the plate of broccoli and threw it as hard as she could right at Evil Mommy, then as quickly as possible made her escape.  BUT she was no match for Evil Mommy’s speed-before she knew it she was back in that same seat in a face-off once again with that horrible vegetable. 

What’s a toddler to do?! Well, in this case, she activated her “Chaos Scream”-she yelled, cried, and squirmed, but to no avail. Evil Mommy didn’t even flinch.  After 2 hours, Annie admitted defeat, and fell asleep, still at the table facing off with the Kryptonite Broccoli. 

When she awoke, the entrancing powers of Evil Mommy were too strong to defeat, so she peacefully ate the broccoli-come to find out, it was not kryptonite at all.  It was the key to her release.  As soon as she swallowed, Evil Mommy disappeared, Good Mommy came, helped her out of her chair, and she was released to play another day. 

We’re never sure when the next battle between Annie and Evil Mommy will happen-it could be any moment, but Annie is always ready, unfortunately for her, so is Evil Mommy!

Share with me your stories/tricks/tips on getting your toddlers/kids to eat their veggies

3 comments:

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  2. I am impressed with your resolve. I firmly believe as you hold your ground, sweet little Annie will wrap herself around a respect for your authority. Years ago I was helping serve dinner at church and a young teen came up to my dish and asked for a "no thank you bite" - a small portion to be polite - I loved that! We adopted it into our family dinners. And, the boys know that it will be small, but they are expected to try. With that, my youngest still tries to debate his way out of veggies. He asks how many - I respond with a number, say 5 bites. He counters with, "how about 4?" I up the ante with "6". He complies with my original 5. God bless your future endeavors, Good Mommy. :-)

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  3. I think it can be very hard to deal reason with small kids. Chaz will eat anything...but getting him to finish a meal is like we are going to war. He is very strong willed and will stand his ground all day so i know your frustration. I like to add ANY vegetable to muffins or bread. I just grate it very small and they have no idea what's in it. I also like to buy or make vegetable puree and use that in the muffins instead it oil. My kids really like vegetables but I think they get sick of "the pile" that I plop in front of them each night. You could even fib a little and say they are cupcakes!
    This reminds me of that show "Dinosaurs' They had to use a funnel to get the baby to take his medicine or eat! That could be your next course of action ;-)

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