Wednesday, September 17, 2008

finally...a reason to grow!


so, those of you that know little soren know that he really is just that---little. the boy is small, always has been. he is going to be 3 in 2 weeks and he is still wearing size 18-24 month size clothing. he also goes through spurts where we cannot get him to eat ANYTHING which i know is normal. in such situations we usually try the age old "eat your vegetables. they will make you grow!" tactic. now, for the record, this technique has worked like a charm with sy ever since he was turned away from an indoor rock climbing adventure with daddy because he wasn't tall enough. ever since then, dinner has gone something like this, "mommy, will this broccoli (or carrots, or zucchini, etc.) make me get bigger so i can go rock climbing with daddy?"

"yes. it will make you grow big and strong."

immediately the vegetable in question is gobbled and seconds are requested. magic, right? so imagine my shock when upon applying this same tactic on soren, it makes him curl up against the back of the dining room chair with a look of terror on his face as he exclaims, "no! i don't want to get bigger! getting bigger is scary!" are you kidding me? a little person that isn't just waiting in the wings to be a big boy? and who knew that "getting big" could be as horrifying as santa


or as awful as halloween (this is soren refusing to wear a halloween costume last year. we tried several different costumes and they all caused the same reaction as "getting big"---lots of curling up into balls and screaming). notice the look of worry even just the little t-shirt is causing.



not to worry, friends. we have had a breakthrough. on monday morning, while sy was at school, the little boy and i went on a neighborhood walk. near our home, right around the corner, in fact, little soren found his reason to grow. and as he watched his inspiration in action, his face lit up and he said to me, "mommy, if i eat my vegetables so i can get bigger, can i do that?"

"yes, soren. if you eat your veggies so you can get bigger, you can do that."

and "that" was this:



"mommy, if i get bigger i can scoop the dirt!?"

"yep."

and there we have it. all the reason in the world for soren to grow. the last two nights our meals have been peppered with occasional shrieks of joy as soren asks, "if i eat this am i going to get bigger and then i'm gonna scoop the dirt?" and when we say "yes" he lets out a deep, satisfied sigh and then proceeds to gobble----or at least eat 3 or 4 bites. baby steps, right?

10 comments:

Kristi said...

everybody needs some motivation....very sweet.

Whitney said...

Love it!

Lei said...

Well ya know what they say, find their currency... and use it for bribery, blackmail and all the likes! LOL!

Kerry said...

Oh man! I wish it were that easy at my house! Logan knows that if he eats veggies they will make him strong and healthy, but he still won't do it. He insists that his milk and cheese are healthy, so that must be good enough. I am glad your little guys have a reason to eat. I need to find one!

BIGSKYBLAST said...

The magic of childhood. If I eat my veggies, Anne, will I grow tall? Ahh...sweet dreams!

shalynn said...

that's so exciting! congrats on your victory!

susan said...

Cute story!! That underoo pic of Soren is hilarious. He looks pretty buffed in that one! Alex has the same studly, camo rain boots.

Amy said...

I love your posts! I am always laughing out loud way before I even finish reading the entire post.

Sophia said...

awesome story anne! You should be a writer..you know...getting paid like 40K/month for blogging.

Anne said...

aw...such flattery.