If there was any doubt left in me that those early tests were right and Atti is mentally disabled, here’s the proof I need that they were wrong.
Atti’s a really picky eater. Despite all those years of beautifully homemade baby food, he has gone full on carb-aholic on me, and if I let him he wouldn’t eat anything but crackers and juice all day long.
He’s so underweight that we are constantly debating if it’s worth letting him go hungry, or just stuffing calories in his face however we can. I am not a mom that shies away from discipline or time outs, but I also don’t want to turn eating into a big negative experience, so we end up doing lengthy negotiations where we beg him to eat three bites of his hot dog or he won’t get any more cheerios. There is frequently a whole lot of fanfare around The Last Bite.
The other day Bear was feeding him pasta with the promise that if he finished the bowl, he could have crackers. Atti was eating really well so Bear didn’t mention that Atti was closing in on his last bite, he just tried to keep pushing food. Finally Atti took the last spoonful of pasta so Bear set the bowl down on the high chair and got up to get the crackers. Atti looked down into the now empty bowl, realized he had *technically* earned his reward, spit his partially chewed pasta back into the bowl it came from and asked, “Crackers?”
Yeah, this kid knows what’s up.