Good circles

Usually with our non-eating daughter, she goes on these long eating strikes. When you don't eat - well, I don't know about you, I can only vouch for myself - you get really, really cranky. Then you get so irritable, you get fed up with the world and then are too out of sorts to eat. It's this horrible downward spiral that just brings down the whole morale of the house. She won't eat, which brings up our anxiety level, then she's irritable, which exasperates us (because we know why she's irritable & she won't eat), and then she gets clingy (but who wants to carry around a screaming & miserable toddler?)...and by 7pm we're happy to put her to bed and so are our ears and nerves.

Tonight, though, was an especially good night. She ate really well. 5 vienna sausages (200 calories), cheese (100 calories), a few bites of apple, some milk, some juice. All in all, that's one of the top calorie meals she's ever ingested at one sitting. Daycare said she ate well today as well. I know she almost ate a whole banana this morning. After all that eating, she was in a really good disposition. Not much (if any) whining, not clingy, happy and playing. She stayed in the high chair almost an hour happily eating. She stayed in the bathtub almost an hour happily playing.

I really like these good circles. I knew if she ate more and had a full belly that she'd be easier to deal with. I mean, aren't you easier to deal with when you have a full belly?