The Perfectly Imperfect Children...

I have three boys.  I know, that comes as no surprise to anyone that has read this blog for more than a couple of days... or anyone that has looked at the header... but I felt I had to reiterate that point here and now.  This place is so far from perfect and it's largely thanks to those three little darlings.  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have it any other way.   The messes they make are (usually) because they are having fun.  The sticky spots they get themselves into are (usually) because they are using their imagination.  The huge noises they make are (usually) because they are playing together.

Tonight our dinner was perfectly imperfect.  Let me start at the top and work my way down to little Monkey.

lion

almost 6

lover of tomatoes

Lion was quite the little darling at dinner tonight.  I knew he would mostly like what I had cooked and he did.  He will eat his veg, or most of the veg I give him, at least tasting what he doesn't think he likes so that he can get dessert.  Sometimes he has even found new foods that he likes when he has had to do this.  Tonight was going so well.  He had finished his dinner and dessert and said he was still a bit hungry so I grabbed him a handful of cherry tomatoes to fill that last little hole... and he put four of them in his mouth at once and drooled everywhere and started to choke on his own tongue because there was no longer any room for it in his mouth.  Perfectly Imperfect.

*****

dragon

almost 4

consumer of bananas

Dragon was... well... Dragon at dinner.  He's my sweet & sour boy.  That's a comment on his personality, not his taste in food.  His taste in food extends very little beyond bananas and lollies.  I gave him a taste size piece of everything we were eating knowing that he wouldn't even taste it and a piece of bread with nothing on it.  Not because he likes bread with nothing on it, but because I wanted something to end up in his tummy and I'm not about to make him a sandwich like a short order chef just because he doesn't like his dinner.  He cried because he didn't like his dinner... not even the bread.  He wasn't eating it.  Lion offered to eat the bread and all of a sudden Dragon wanted it.  Dragon cried a bit more because he knew he wasn't getting any dessert if he didn't at least taste his food.  He's cranky at everyone, cranky at the world because he doesn't like his dinner.  He comes to my seat and I tell him to go and sit back down "But Muuuuum, I just want to huggle Monkey because he makes me feel betteeeeeer" and proceeds to kiss Monkey's hand and help him eat his dinner telling him it's good for him and will make him big and strong.  See? Sweet & Sour.  Anyway, after he's had another sook all through everyone else's dessert he's still hungry (no one's surprised, right?) so I tell him he can have a banana but still no icecream and dino sprinkles.  I read on his face his mixed emotions, happy that he's getting some food but still upset that he's not getting dessert, he knows why, he knows how simple it would be to just taste all the food... but at least I am content that he's eaten SOMETHING that is good for him today.  Perfectly Imperfect.

*****

monkey

freshly 1

learner of new skills

I both love and hate this photo.  That's my baby there.  Chubby arms, pudgy fingers, food covered face.  All Baby.  It's also my big boy there.  Furrowed brow, learning to scoop icecream, problem solving, bowl gripping, spoon maneuvering.  All Big Boy.  He didn't do too bad, actually he did a lot better than I thought he would.  Icecream is hard to keep on the spoon.  This stage is messy, really messy.  He makes enough mess when I feed him.  He stays relatively clean (depending on what he's eating) when he's getting to stab his dinner with a fork and he's been down with that skill for a while.  But this spoon thing... he can get the food on to it usually, and he can get the spoon into his mouth usually, but it's a bit hit and miss as to whether there is any food left on the spoon by the time it gets to his mouth.  But that's the fun of learning new stuff.  Perfectly Imperfect.

*****

Joining up with Kate again for one last day of perfect imperfection.  She just happens to have posted about her perfectly imperfect children too.  No, I didn't know that, I just popped over to get the link and found her cutie kiddies all over the place.  Anyway, you should go on over there to Mondays post and look at lots of lovely links.