There was a time when Babygirl was labeled "failure to thrive." Basically she had fallen of the growth curve shortly after she turned 1 year old. Obviously things like this happen all the time, especially when an infant gives up the mama milk, and then starts walking. We're talking about an increase in physical activity and calories burned, as well as the switch from the magical nutritional wonders of breast milk to formula(despite technology, formula companies continue to refine their recipe to better mimic everything that breast milk contains).
Prior to the official label of "failure to thrive," everything was tried to increase caloric intake, pediatrician asked us to double up the butter on toast, add oil to everything, etc. Needless to say, Babydaddy got good at sneaking in olive oil into all sorts of meals. Like anyone who's trying to put on weight, it's not necessarily just eating high calorie foods, but also increasing the frequency of eating such things too, which is not easy to convey to a verbally limited infant.
Naturally the one way that babymama and Babydaddy could keep food in front of babygirl long enough, was the introduction of watching TV while eating. If it were not for TV, meal times would be over in less than 5mins. Thus at an early age the idea of watching something and eating became synonymous.
Clearly Babygirl is way beyond the "failure to thrive" label(thank you PediaSure, the official weight gainer/protein shake for babies), but the habit of staring at a screen and putting food to mouth still continues. Naturally babyboy has taken to watching and eating as something normal.
America, it's embarassing as parents to admit that our children are not likely to eat as well if there is not a TV, but it ain't easy to break either, but we're working on it.
At the end of the day, Babygirl and Babyboy are healthy and thriving. Parenting is not always cookie cutter neat and proper, and sometimes we just have to do what we gotta do, and not worry what other parents might be thinking or saying.
Babygirl thriving and winning!
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