New books and a potential culprit

I went overboard today. I bought John seven new books. He was quite excited about his new books and looked through all of them when we got home from MDO. But when dinner was over and we asked him if he wanted to read his new books, "No" was the answer. I was not surprised because "no" is the answer to EVERYTHING these days, but I'll tell you more about that later. Daddy was pretty sly, though, and sat down to read the books aloud anyway without a lap occupant. Soon, he had John by his side, peering over his shoulder.

And shortly after that, he was sitting in his lap, reading along. In this book, John had John repeating the sounds Mr. Brown can say. Although, when it came to the whisper, JHP just laughed and wouldn't whisper back.

But his favorite new book (and Daddy's too, I think) is Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb. JHP just got the biggest kick out of the "Dum ditty, Dum ditty, Dum dum dum" part.

John was well established in "no" today. He refused on numerous occasions to do what I ask. He'd taken his cereal out of the bowl and not eaten it. And wouldn't put it back. He simply said "yes" with a smirk when I asked him if he wanted a pinch. Two pinches later and no effect, I explained that a spanking was next if he didn't comply. "No" was his answer and off we went for three good swats on a bare bottom. This was really his first spanking and he was shocked, I think. He cried and we hugged afterwards. And then we went to put his cereal back in his bowl as I asked. When it was time for school. "No" was the answer. I had to carry him out of the house. He didn't want to get in his car seat. A pinch and some tears and we were off for school. After school, he didn't want to leave the playground and he didn't want to play either. So I left him there and walked almost all the way back to the car before he started to move towards the gate. I returned to collect him. It seems the first word out of his mouth today on each occasion was "no" even when he didn't seem to want to say no. But he was stuck with that decision. I guess that means we are entrenched in the Terrible Twos. Oh, so much fun!

I told you John's been eating like a bird the last couple of days. Today was no better. He ate the applesauce I fed him for breakfast, but he only picked at the cereal. He ate the pretzels and raisins I sent for lunch, but hardly touched the PB sandwich and ate only half of the oranges I sent. And for dinner, he had about one-half a wheat tortilla, one or two tortilla chips, a small bit of cheese, and two mandarin orange sections. He was offered some refried beans which he only pushed around on the plate. He did drink most of his milk. But I think I might have come up with a culprit for John's seeming lack of appetite. Although, it's entirely possible, he's just not interested. I suspect his mouth hurts. While he was eating a piece of orange tonight, he cried out. I didn't think much about it until I asked him to open his mouth before I let him down from the table. He has a sore on his tongue. I think the poor guy has my sensitivity to oranges (and other acidic things). It took me until I was 27 or so to figure out that my chronic mouth sores were caused by my love for tangerines and clementines. When I cut them from my diet (along with OJ), my frequency of sores was greatly reduced. While I'd given John oranges on occasion, it wasn't until last week that I bought some clementines. He's had one at least every other day since last Monday. So, for now, even though I just bought a new bag today, I'm cutting him off. And we'll see if his appetite improves.

Some random sayings of John's: "I got it!" - just the way he says the word "got" just cracks me up. If he falls down, he'll say, "I fall down!" followed by, "I'm OK!" because we always ask if he's OK or tell him he's OK. He says "tortilla", but it rhymes will Attila (the Hun). "I wub you." "Wick - ette!"

-EBP-