Excuses are like…

Now that's a variety there.

 

H-I don’t like potatoes.

Me- you have to at least try them.

H-I did…at Mammaws…and I didn’t like them there either.

Me- Well try them again. You have to have at least one.

H-I think they make my throat hurt.

Me-Hmmm…nice try.

 

When the girls were just babies, they were able to get their way by simply crying. You had no idea what they wanted, so you tried everything in the book in order to get them to stop. Check the diaper. Give them a bottle. Check their temperature. Or, simply just hold them. One of these things would eventually work and you were in back in the business of no crying. Sure, it was stressful, time consuming and frustrating sometimes, but at least it was usually limited to just a few possibilities.

As they got older and were able to communicate their wants and needs, things got a little easier. The trick has always been not to give too much. Like if they fall down, you don’t react, you just say “shake it off,” and they’re less likely to cry or make a big deal about it. If they want food or some sort of treat, they can tell you what they want. If they don’t feel well, they tell you. Sounds easy enough right? Wrong. This is where the clever little buggers try to get you. When they find a formula that works, they exploit it like well trained con men. And, being only 4 years old, they don’t understand the consequences of over-indulgence, or the long lasting effects of sugar too late at night. They know what they want and they’ll do anything to get it. They’ll lie, cheat and steal their way to what they want.

I’ve talked about how proud I am of my girls and how well they typically eat, but lately, they’ve been resisting eating certain things. Most of the time they say “I don’t like that” before I even serve it to them, which is a hot button for me. I was always raised to know that you have to at least try something once before you say you don’t like it. And even if I didn’t like it, I was still forced to eat it. My excuses usually revolved around the idea that it would make me throw up. Sweet potatoes and squash were my main hang-ups because the texture didn’t go down well. I’d literally gag it down, but I still had to eat it. I’m finding the same to be true with the girls and certain foods, but their excuses for not liking something are what entertains me the most. Apparently potatoes give Huds a sore throat. That’s an “A” for effort, but she still had to try them.

As they get older and smarter, the excuses are coming in at a much quicker and clever rate than I have time to properly react to and aren’t necessarily related to food. It worries me a bit that I might have to create a new twitter handle called @twicetheexcuses. It’s amazing to me what these two will say or do in order to get what they want, or to get out of something they don’t want to do. It’s become an extreme challenge for me lately because I’m starting to not be able to tell when they’re lying or telling the truth. Hudson said she was quiet one day because she was “stressed.” She also said she needed ice cream because she had a headache. Elle recently got in bed with me in the middle of the night because her shirt was too tight around her neck. That story changed to her having a nightmare and then back to the tight shirt. See where I’m going with this? These two are so full of excuses for stuff, I’m not going to be able to tell when they’re actually sick, have a nightmare or just want to take advantage of me to get what they want.

For the most part, I’m leaning towards the idea that they’re just trying to get daddy to give them what they want. When they really are sick, or going to throw up cause they don’t like something they’re eating, I’m not going to recognize it and assume they’re crying wolf. But, at the end of the day, I’ll end up cleaning throw-up off my table because I forced them to eat something or didn’t believe their belly really hurt. My mom learned that one the hard way with my brother. At this point, excuses are like currency for the girls, but I’m not buying. Man, sometimes I miss the days when they didn’t talk.