Dinner time dread

Having shared our bedtime routine and how it is my favourite time of the day I thought I should also share about what is becoming a testing time of the day.  Dinnertime.  It used to be easy my daughter would eat anything and always had a healthy appetite but since becoming a toddler she is certainly exerting her own authority!! We are not in the worst phase of dinnertime by any means but she it is becoming a frustrating time.

It all starts off well with me feeding my son (8 months) and my daughter (nearly 2) eating her own meal.  Lots of chatter and praise going on but then all of a sudden we get "mummy help" and her fork goes down.  I try to encourage her to carry on but the plate gets pushed away, "mummy help please" on repeat again and again.  Eventually I put some food on her fork but refuse to put it in her mouth but then all we get is "mummy help" again and again.  Even though I've put the food on the fork half the plate goes uneaten and I know that if I fed her she'd eat it all, but I refuse because she can do it herself - she did do it herself at the start of the meal!  I know it's partly because I'm feeding her younger brother but this even happens when he's got finger food and I'm not feeding him.  I'm trying to stand my ground on the not feeding her but sometimes it does require a few deep breaths in the kitchen!  Luckily today there was yogurt post dinner and so after some persuasion she ate some more (I try not to force her to finish her meal but rather eat an adequate amount) and then had yogurt after.  Disaster averted and no tantrums, phew! But lots of escaping to the kitchen for deep breaths!!

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