Fabulous

So Saturday before going to the park we stopped at the library to return some books and take out a few new ones. As I'm walking to the librarian's desk to check out some children's books, Muffin ran up to me and asked if we could take out 2 music CD's that she handed me over. Oh lord. One of them was for High School Musical 2. So what could I say? We brought it home, and she's already memorized most of the songs. That would be helped by the fact that, at her request, we've been playing that CD almost nonstop since Saturday. And of course, any good singing is accompanied by good dancing!

Poor Daddymuffin has been hearing this CD like 15 times a day… I'm surprised he's still sane ;)

Decoration & Creativity

This is what I greeted me when I got home from work last night. Apparently Muffin decided to make a bed using the sofa cushions! Quite a pretty bed, I may add. I discovered my favorite part as we were taking it apart before bed… she'd put toys under the mattress, just like in the "Princess and the Pea" story (I guess because she didn't have peas?). She was soooo proud of the 'bed' she'd made. Notice that she even covered up some stuffed animals in a blanket?

She invited me to join her on it, which I attemped to decline (since, ahem, I *am* adult sized) but she'd have none of it. No, sorry, no pictures of us in bed ;)

Child Labor

We had a wonderful almost spring-like weather this past weekend! Muffin and I took advantage of it, and visited a local park on Saturday where she had a blast with the swings and play areas. Then on Sunday, I wanted to work on preparing the garden for spring, but what to do about Muffin? Hmmmm, how about asking her to fill up her wagon with sticks, and offering her money for doing this? Hooo boy did she like the idea! It worked out so well, she had fun (for the most part) picking up sticks while chatting with me (play-acting chat, sigh). And I was able to do the hard labor for our garden bed. YOU try to pretend to be characters while shoveling and hand-rototilling the soil. It was hard! Hey, I deserved another dollar for my work too ;) But she was SOOO happy to get her "green square rectangle with a face on it" (her words). And I was happy to discover Child Labor. Bwahahaha!

There is hope

Muffin is not a very adventurous eater, as apparently is typical with most kids her age. Long ago, like 2-3 yrs ago, she used to love kiddie foods like chicken nuggets, meatballs, soup, and mashed potatoes. Somehow along the way she started disliking foods, one by one. Her typical daily menu nowadays is:

Breakfast: dry cereal (pancake, french toast or muffin whenever I make them)
Lunch: peanut butter & jelley sandwich
Dinner: plain pasta (not even butter on it), rice and black beans, or fruit salad. Pizza if she can get it.

This has been driving me batty for months. We've tried introducing other foods but so far she's rebuffed all efforts.

Until yesterday.

On Sunday, Muffin and I went to the mall shopping for some summer clothes for her. I asked her if she'd like to try chicken nuggets for lunch as a treat at the mall… and she said … YES! After picking myself up from the floor and making an emergency PBJ sandwich (in case she hated nuggets), off we went to the mall. Would you believe she LOVED the nuggets? We got the 'Tyson' dinosaur shaped nuggets from The Great Steak & Potato Company. Given her acid reflux, she only got to eat a handful of fries with her nuggets.

Then she asked for nuggets for dinner.

I asked her, now that she likes chicken nuggets, would she be open to trying meatballs? To which she answered "NEVER!" with her usual dramatic flair. So I'll have to try again in a few months… but there is hope that she'll grow to eat more foods!!