Stand Firm?

A few days ago I wrote the psychologist another email and told him that last week Ian only ate dinner twice (waffles one night and pizza another). The other nights he ate his mandatory 1-2 bites, and that was it. Most nights it took 45 minutes or less for him to eat those 1-2 bites. One night it took 90 minutes for him to put one bite of chicken in his mouth. Because he's been hungry he's been waking up at 5:30am every day (compared to 6:30-7:00 normally). The reply I got was to "stand firm," because Dr. Williams believes that eventually Ian will decide it's better to eat what is served than to go hungry. Although I'm supposed to let him have cereal or a bagel for breakfast even if he doesn't eat his dinner the night before, I did make the rule that he can't have Chocolate Cheerios (his current favorite) if he doesn't eat his dinner. What has made this new plan even more frustrating for me is that it is having a negative impact on Nadia's eating habits. It's really hard to enforce our usual rules with her when they've all gone out the door for Ian. She had been doing SO well.

The last two nights we had tacos. The choices included taco salad, hard tacos, soft tacos, or bean burritos. Ian ate one hard taco each night, as long as I held it in front of his mouth (just too messy for him to handle but he bit off the pieces and ate it). This was a big improvement over last week, but Nadia didn't eat any of the above either of the last two nights. Last night I had her sit at the table for two hours and didn't let her watch the VeggieTales dvd with Ian. She ate some baby carrots but wouldn't take even one bite of the taco. Oi vey. I decided that the rules would have to be different for her. This was hard for her to accept, but I told her that Ian had a problem with his throat when he was younger (eosinophilic esophagitis) and because of that eating is a lot harder for him. I sat with her at breakfast this morning and told her we weren't doing anything else today until she ate that taco. Thankfully she ate it. It's Ian's pick this week for our restaurant meal, and he picked Friendly's. Kids meals are $1.99 there on Wednesdays (includes meal, drink, and ice cream sundae) so I'm taking the three kids there tonight before we go to AWANA. I am really looking forward to a meal where everyone eats without any struggles. I want to at least get Nadia back on track. Paul doesn't think the new plan will ever work for Ian, but I figure it's what he does for a living, and what we were doing was very exhausting (although he certainly ate more with the old plan). It's worth a try I figure, and so I guess for now we'll stand firm. Ian is usually the first one to get me up in the morning, but last night Nadia won that prize because a little before 4am she realized she had put her night light in the living room yesterday and just *had* to have it back right then and there. It took me until 5:15 to fall back asleep, and then Ian came in our room at 5:30. I'm glad my day doesn't usually start at 3:55am. Here's to hoping and praying that Oliver stays a really good eater.