Thursday, July 7, 2011

Contrary to Popular Belief...

Ah, the glorious age of 3!  While there are many, many wonderful aspects (better communication, awesome imagination, greater coordination, better sense of humor, even more hugs and I love you's than before, etc.), the thing that is currently driving me batty is Dashiell's constant need to contradict EVERYTHING.  Everything!  I could tell him that we live in a house, and he would claim otherwise.  But the contradictions involving food are probably the worst.  Everything that he used to love, he now wants nothing to do with.  The kid even turned down pizza the other night.  PIZZA!  What the - ?!?  Yesterday we went blueberry picking (D loved picking blueberries, but will not eat them anymore - last year at this time he LOVED them, and a few times in the past years he's eaten them and enjoyed them, only to reject them the next time they were served.), and they had lovely fresh strawberries at the farm stand.  Dashiell requested that we get some, and as a lover of strawberries myself I of course obliged.  That afternoon I asked D if he wanted some of the strawberries, and replied yes.  So I cut up a few of them, put them in a bowl, and gave one of them a taste test.  These were the BEST strawberries I've tasted this year, and I said as much out loud as I was about to give the bowl to Dashiell.  AS SOON as the words were out of my mouth, he says, "maybe I don't want any strawberries" and leaves the table, strawberries uneaten.  Unheard of!  This kid is a strawberry fiend!  The same thing happened this morning - I was cutting up strawberries for my cereal, he asked if they were for me or for him, I said "me" then asked him if he wanted me to cut some up for him too, he said yes, then he decided he didn't want them as soon as they were ready to eat.  Of course the strawberries didn't go to waste, but still, it's the principal of the thing!  I'm thinking if I tell him he can't have any and make him put up a fight for them, maybe then he'll eat them again. 

Part of our current food problem that has less to do with being contradictory and more to do with him being just plan stubborn is that he remembers EVERYTHING.  So 1-1/2 years ago when he had that hot dog that he didn't like?  Well, that of course means that he'll never like a hot dog again.  Not even one as cute as this!

I got the idea for it from the Annie's Homemade facebook page (I think they got it from the Frugal Stepmom blog), and I hoped he'd at least try it.  No octopus hot dog for him thank you very much!  And carrots?  About 8 months ago I gave him a carrot that he choked on (not to the point of not breathing, but it went down the wrong way and he coughed it up), so now anytime I give him carrots, he reminds me that he choked on one and doesn't want to try another.  Grr.

It's not just food that he has to fight us on.  Since the beginning of our warm weather, he generally freaks out anytime we put him in shorts ("I want longs!"), and he insists on wearing socks.  Okay, this child may faint from heat exhaustion soon.  I just don't get it.  And if he gets even the smallest drop of water or milk on his clothes, prepare for a meltdown.  Seriously, last night as it was 90 very hot degrees, he spilled 3 drops of water on his jeans while we were leaving the grocery store.  You would have thought I was pulling his hair with all the carry-on that happened.  It evaporated before we even got home, but he wanted to change his pants anyway.  I let him put on his pj bottoms since he could wear them to bed later, mostly because I was too hot and tired to fight him on this minor issue.  So he ended up looking like a college boy, which I have to admit was pretty funny:


Dashiell is an amazing kid who I love to pieces, but some days I just wish he could go with the flow a bit more.  But even when he doesn't, at least he keeps me laughing.


(Side note: Look!  We got him in shorts that day!)

2 comments:

Lea said...

Oh Dash!!!! Turning down STRAWBERRIES!?!!?!

If it makes you feel better my non-three-year-olds are quite contrary too. I tell C he's arguing with me, and he yells back at me,"NO, I NOT ARGUING WITH YOU!" Really? REALLY?

Oh, and G remembers every stinking thing that every "choked" her EVER. Oy.

On the upside, D is very, very handsome.

Lisa said...

Yup. We've got a contrary one with a good memory over here too. Drives. Me. Nuts. It is a good thing they are so stinkin' cute!