A mirror

At times there is familiarity in my kids actions and words. It is not a good familiarity but none the less there. My initial reaction is one of disbelief but it then all comes back like a bad dream.

Some days I feel like I am looking in a mirror but don't like what I see. My kids have certain behaviors that were just like mine growing up. As much as I have tried to not see it, it is there.

Jay has always had issues with clothes. He had a problem transitioning from summer to winter and vice versa. Jeans seem to be the worst article of clothing he has. They never feel right and he just gets frustrated. The tags in shirts always seem to bother him also. If I can get him to leave the article of clothing on he tends to forget about its uncomfortableness.

I have memories of my childhood and both of these were issues for me. I think I was in high school when I finally found a pair of jeans that fit my body and didn't bother me.

EE is a picky eater. Honestly, one out of three is not bad. He likes to eat fairly simple meals and he definitely is NOT into trying anything new. He would rather eat at home than go out to eat.

I make one meal for my family dinners. The only choice you have is to eat or not eat. I will not prepare 3 different meals to make everyone happy. This is the best advice I ever got from my pediatrician. I don't make gourmet meals that a child won't like. My meals are simple and the rest of the family typically loves what I make.

This past weekend, we took the kids out to a Japanese Steakhouse for dinner with our neighbors. I thought that it would be a fun experience for the kids. This is not somewhere we would normally take them. First of all, too expensive and secondly they would prefer to go somewhere else a little more simple. We had not been to a restaurant like this in years and were looking forward to it.

We placed our order and got simple food for the kids. Tee would share a meal with his brothers and me. Jay wanted the shrimp and we ordered EE the chicken.

Although he seemed to enjoy the chef's performance, EE spent most of the night sitting in his seat with attitude. He didn't touch his salad or vegetables. He did have fun catching the chicken the chef was throwing in his mouth. But he said the chicken on his plate was not like the chicken he caught in his mouth. There was no sauce on the chicken the chef used to have us catch in our mouth. He did not eat anything at the restaurant.

We got home and the first thing he said was that he was hungry. Our response was too bad. He was warned at the restaurant that this was dinner and nothing else would be offered. I did feel a little bad about making him go to bed hungry but we had to stick to our rule.

My response at times tends to be one of frustration. I know with time they will outgrow some of their behaviors, but they will probably be replaced by different ones and those may not be so endearing either. But I would have it any other way!