Short night

I hate work nights. Don't get me wrong, on most days I like my job but, on most nights I hate that I miss precious moments throughout the day with my sweet girl. I love that I have a job and a paycheck but, sadly, my girl is growing up too quickly for me to keep up. So, nights like tonight are tough. Ainslee is super tired, a little grumpy, but doing so well. Her reports from school are great and I know that she loves school. Just this morning when Breanna opened the door, she was saying hi to her. That in itself is enough to make my day. She is finally greeting someone besides inanimate objects! :)

On another note, dinner was kind of a bust tonight. I tried something new, spinach ravioli, and she took 2 bites and was done. This is what I tried: http://www.hormel.com/Brands/Compleats/Hormel-Compleats-Balanced-Selections/HORMEL%C2%AE-Compleats%C2%AE-Cheese-Spinach-Ravioli.aspx I figure 2 bites is better than none, yet I'm still baffled by how she'll eat stage 3 Earth's Best Spring Vegetables and Pasta (http://www.earthsbest.com/products/product/2392370028) baby food but not this. Anyway, she eventually ate cottage cheese & applesauce, chicken and vegetable soup (http://www.earthsbest.com/products/product/2392370039: yes, a stage 3 Earth's Best food, shoot me, but I want her to get nutrients somehow), and 3 whole wheat Ritz crackers. Y'all can judge that I occasionally resort to stage 3 food, but I want my girl to get a variety of veggies (and nutrients) however she can. Picky eating calls for desperate measures. Between this method (mostly squash, the soup I gave her tonight, and broccoli/carrots), canned sweet potatoes, and mixing corn, green beans, peas, and/or carrots in pasta, plus giving her V8 Fusion juice to drink, that's how I get fruits and veggies in her. She still likes some veggies as stage 3 baby foods (as I slowly transition her to "real" versions of it). If that makes me a bad mom, oh well. It's getting her veggies in her.

Of the 30 Day Mom Challenge, I met it without even looking at it today: Do not criticize your child today. I try to never criticize Ainslee or tell her what she did wrong. I either tell her "good trying" or try to errorless teach her. If I can't errorless teach her, I praise her for what she did do and try to correct her from an incorrect choice to a good choice or we try again. If she doesn't get it, I say "good try" and move on. Criticizing kids only discourages them so I do what I can to encourage and build her up. I'm not going to be the parent who completely frustrates their kid (at least not on purpose). I would hate and feel terribly guilty if that ever happened.