Revolutions

I introduced Dash to the idea of new year's resolutions today. He liked the concept and immediately announced we should resolve to give more cookies to everyone. Laudable, though maybe not exactly somethijng that will jibe nicely with other people's weight-loss or healthy-eating aspirations.

Ironically, I think deciding to run - jog, whatever - on a regular basis and actually doing it might be the easiest of my resolutions. The other changes I want to make depend more on my children and less on just me; except for those that are good for the kids and make my life harder, like the one about letting them watch less TV.

But then there are the things I want to get the children to do, like getting Dash to eat more foods, and getting Mabel to sleep better. This is trickier, and requires wiles. (You'll note I say nothing about toilet training. She's on her own for that one at the moment.)

Dash and I decided that he's going to try a new food every day, even if it's just a tiny taste that he spits out, or another taste of something he didn't like before. If he doesn't, his regular bedtime game of superheroes won't happen. If he does, he'll get the superhero game and also a star on his chart. After ten stars, he'll get a dollar. So far today he's tried a cracker he didn't like before, and carrots; steamed and plain, and steamed and tossed in butter and salt. He didn't like any of them, but it's a start.

So there's that. The ultimate threat to keep him on track is that if he doesn't make an effort, we'll have to take him to a doctor or a therapist or someone, because I do think he's a lot worse than the average picky eater. I don't see that a therapist would be able to do any more than what we're trying now, but Dash would hate it, so the concept serves its purpose. (I found an SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder) checklist yesterday and really, though a few of the many behaviours listed could have applied to him at times in the past, he doesn't send up big red flags for anything, even in the "Oral Defensiveness" section, except this one:

picky eater, often with extreme food preferences; i.e., limited repertoire of foods, picky about brands, resistive to trying new foods or restaurants, and may not eat at other people's houses

Yes, that's my kid. And lots of other kids too, I think.) 

Then there's the sleeping and the Mabel. For the past two nights she's been up till almost 10pm, after protracted nursing-not-to-sleep, leaving alone to yell a bit, sending up Daddy, more nursing, more yelling, finally bringing downstairs because I wanted my coffee, and eventual dropping off. I think this means it's time to nix the nap. Much as I love my hour of peace in the middle of the day, and much as I think she can still use it, I need my sanity and my two hours on the sofa at the end of the day even more. We'll work through the afternoons of crazy until she gets used to it, and when Dash is back at school it should be easy enough to instigate an hour of quiet play (though not in her room, I fear) after lunch.

I reviewed my options, discussed it with friends and spouse, and decided to start with the tactic that's probably least likely to work, but involves the least crying. Because I can't take the crying, and in the middle of the night I know exactly which of us is more likely to back down. We're going to try putting them together tonight, on mattresses, both in Dash's room. For a sleepover. Yay! Sleepover! Mabel said that she won't need me to go to sleep with when she has Dash there. So it must be true.

You may see I've created an entirely new category for this type of post, called Best Intentions. So you needn't point out that I'm always promising to do things that don't pan out. I'm painfully aware of that. But here I am again, writing from the point of view of unalloyed optimism, as we've yet to try which means we've also yet to fail. There's probably only a tiny chance it will help, but heck, here goes nothing. Again.