Updates

Jeff was away this weekend coaching an SU trial team in a competition in Buffalo. As the boys and I were getting in the car yesterday:
Beckett: "Is Daddy going to drive?"
Mama: "No, Daddy isn't here."
Theo: "He is in Buffalo."
Beckett: "Is Buffalo an animal?"
Mama: "Buffalo is an animal AND it is a place, a city. Daddy is in the city called Buffalo. Daddy did not get eaten by a buffalo. That would be funny, wouldn't it, if Daddy were eaten by a buffalo? I mean, no, it would NOT be funny. That wouldn't be good."
Beckett: "It would be a LITTLE funny."

Theo is at his funniest when talking about not much. He lives to contradict Beckett, to turn his head in a scolding or I-told-you-so kind of way, and say, "No, Beckett, it's not ACTUALLY ...." Or, "No, Beckett, it does seem like that, though, but it's not really like that, of course."

With regard to eating, both boys are getting pickier. Theo continues to be the better tryer of new things, and more eagerly samples new foods and flavors. Beckett is the one who will say, upon merely hearing the word "new food", "I don't like it! I'm not going to try it! If you put it on my plate I will NOT eat it!" There have been a couple days in the last month or so when they have sat down in their chairs, looked down at their plates, and said, "I don't want that. I'm getting down." Sometimes even later in the evening Beckett (never Theo) has complained that he is hungry (or "hun-ga-rey", as he says it). We tell him he should have eaten more dinner, and that he can have breakfast in the morning. A few times they've eaten apples or bananas instead of dinner altogether, or after having a bite or two of the disfavored food. Theo enjoys variety in his diet, and likes different kinds of fruits and vegetables, but not predictably, so sometimes he asks for foods we don't have or rejects foods he usually likes. Beckett would have bagels for every meal if we let him, sometimes with yogurt as well.

Their eating at school is almost comically ridiculous. When they started I spent time and energy creating diverse and healthy lunches every school day. The lunchboxes came back practically untouched. We tried buying lunch at school, where they can pick between a couple of options. Their teacher reported it was a battle trying to get them to eat anything. I think the problem comes partly from the fact that they get a snack at about 10am, which we are required to send, and then eat lunch at 11:45 or 12:15, and they're not very hungry for lunch then. Plus that they are interested in what everyone else is doing and eating and saying during the lunchtime, so they do not have a lot of interest in the food in front of them. It's gotten to the point now where I try to pack the healthiest snack possible, since it's the main thing they'll eat at school, and then packing minimalist lunches because that's all they'll eat. So for snacks they get a cheese stick and either a box of raisins or some dried apples. Lunch they get (and I am not kidding) milk and a couple of either veggie straws or pretzel sticks. Sometimes Theo will allow us to give him a yogurt too, but I suspect he doesn't eat much of that either. Maybe it will get better over time and as they get used to eating lunch with a lot of other kids in what I can only imagine is a chaotic and loud and energetic environment. But for now I have to apologize to their teacher every day and say, "no, I did not forget to put in an entree, that's all they'll eat." 

We have sorted out the afterschool anxiety for now, in that we have hired a babysitter the boys like who can come to our house, get our car, pick them up from school, bring them back, and then entertain them for the afternoon until we get home. We've only done it for one day so far but the boys really like her and they were markedly more relaxed and happy than they have been when picked up from afterschool. I don't know how long she'll be available but we'll take it for as long as we can get it.