Solids are fer suckers!

Kirk just went through a very strange food phase this week. He was refusing to eat cereal, fruits, or vegetables. He wouldn't eat any for Auntie, for me, or for Daddy. He would take a bite and then make a horrible face like he was gagging or it was poison or something. It was really awful to see. He was still drinking bottles--formula, juice, and water. But he wouldn't eat solid food. Which he has been doing with astounding proficiency and delight for 2 months now.

I tried doing some internet research on this weirdness and didn't really find anything relevant. I mean, there was stuff about nursing strikes, but he's been fully off the boob for quite some time. And there was tons of stuff about toddlers being fussy eaters, refusing certain things, and the like.

There were some medical explanations, mostly talking about it being painful to swallow. Like the little guys already have acid reflux or something. Scary! Or that teething pain could cause spoon feeding to hurt. Yet Kirk seems to like pressure on his gums when his mouth is hurting. Of course I recently read the Newsweek cover story about anorexia striking ever younger kids, down to age 9, and boys more often than ever. I don't want my poor little peepers pie to have an eating disorder!

There were some psychological explanations, mostly about asserting individuality. Kids don't have a lot of power over decisions in their lives but they can decide to eat or not. (And, just to make it worse, that was one of the main arguments in the anorexia article. Gah!) They all said to not show signs of worry or that would make it worse. So Mr. b and I just kept offering solids to Kirk and then would keep a smile on our faces when he wouldn't do it.

Thankfully yesterday it seemed to be over. Kirk was back to sitting in his high chair with his mouth open wide, like a little birdie waiting for a worm. My sister said he ate for her yesterday, too. But he's continuing to wake up multiple times in the night. Drinking 2 bottles in the night is making him overflow his diapers with pee. (Of course it doesn't help that he's sort of in between diaper sizes. Twos are a bit short but we've still got some to use up. And threes are still a bit bulky.) I guess we need to force him to wait for his bottle and change his pants first. Just like back when he was a newborn and we were used to getting up multiple times in the middle of the night. We're so out of that habit. It's amazing how far we've come. Even getting up once is unusual now.

The owners manual I've been using says that developmental leaps are usually preceeded by a reversion. So maybe the eating thing and getting up at night is signalling an imminent, great, big leap. I moved the crib last night just in case it happens to be getting to sitting up position on his own. We still have blinds on his windows and I don't want him reaching the pull cords. Add "make window treatments" to my list of childproofing I've procrastinated on but must be done NOW.