Truffula Trees

I was warned that Threes are more terrible than Twos, but so far this has not been the case. At one point this summer, when I was trying to woo my sister into meeting me for a conference by saying not only is Sedona beautiful, but Tyler is supercute right now, she noted, "You're awful sweet on him right now, aren't you?" I remembered then, that my nephew Cole was supercute at 3, and 3 was the age that I met my good friend's son, Ashton, and he captured my heart right away, too. There's just something magical about the age of 3.

Truffula Trees are a great example. Melanie (who happens to be the mother of that previously supercute Ashton, who has most likely graduated from supercute to supercool by now) gave Tyler a big Dr. Suess book (compilation of books) back when he was a wee little elf, and I was sad that Tyler never got into it. He loved Fox in Socks, and went through a Cat in the Hat phase, and loved Green Eggs and Ham, but that big book of Dr. Suess, he just wasn't having it. One night, I heard through the monitor Tyson reading to him from that book, reading "Yertle the Turtle" and Tyler was complaining and crying about it, asking for a different book, but Tyson just kept reading anyway. The next night, through the monitor, I heard Tyler ask for the book again. Tyson read Yertle the Turtle, then read "The Lorax". I was impressed with Tyler's attention span for two long stories in a row. I had no idea how magical The Lorax would become.

From then on, each night, Tyler has asked for "the book with the trees." Eventually, he began asking for "the Lorlax." Now, finally, "The Lorax." As we drive to school each morning, Tyler spends the entire 35 minute commute talking on and on about Truffula Trees. Except he's the "bad guy" - he wants to chop down the Truffula Trees! Some days, he tells me he's going to chop down one. Other days he wants to chop four. Other days five! That's more than the Once-ler could ever chop down at a time. When we go running, he sits upright in the stroller, and as we pass palm trees, Tyler points at them, and describes the color of the Truffula Tufts, pink or purple or blue or green. I hear him talking to his teachers about Truffula Trees. It's non-stop. Of course, because Truffula Trees are what everyone, everyone, everyone needs!

Part of the supercute factor is that Tyler is so affectionate right now. His vocabulary and speech have increased so much, and conversations are quite entertaining. He shows his silly side more often, and is bouncy, like Tigger. He likes to climb on Vader like a motorcycle and bounces on him, too. 

Tyler's favorite things are still his train set, which is played with nightly, and books. He watches some YouTube videos of trains most nights on my iphone, and plays Angry Birds, Cookies, Spanish, and Letters on it as well. We've cut back on movie time. I heard Tyson tell Tyler, "On the nights when you and Mommy go running, you get home too late to watch a movie." I felt a pang of guilt, then remembered - I'd far rather Tyler go for a stroller ride with me and look for Truffula Trees than watch a movie every night. 

Also, at some point I felt rather distressed that Tyler only ate hot dogs, fish sticks, grilled cheese sandwiches, and quesadillas. I remember lamenting to my sister about this - how could a health educator let her son eat such a horrible diet? She reminded me, there's a reason kids' menus in restaurants across the country serve hot dogs, fish sticks, grilled cheese sandwiches, and quesadillas - because kids eat them. That was when I remembered, "That's right! We couldn't get him to eat anything at all! We were desperate to get him to eat! That's how we landed here!" She gave me permission to be more patient and forgiving of myself.

And then we began the rule of, "If you want a hot dog, first you have to eat your vegetables." Painful at first, but now, most nights, it's expected. While we were in San Diego, Tyler was so overstimulated that it was easier to get him to try new foods - chicken/pesto/parmesan pizza, for one. When we returned from vacation, we made it a point to just keep serving him the same food we're eating. He's been having a harder time this week with a roast, but otherwise, he's been great at eating the foods we're eating, especially chicken. Much healthier than hot dogs and fish sticks! 

The other habit we broke was eating in front of the TV. Again, how did a health educator let her kid eat in front of the TV? Because a) our kitchen table is a high table, and being strapped in a tall chair for safety turned mealtime into a prison sentence, and b) this kid could outlast Ghandi in a hunger strike. But he loved his movies. So we'd let him eat while watching the movie, and if he stopped eating, we'd pause the TV until he took a bite. Horrible, I know. But it was an act of desperation. Until, as I was working on my continuing education credits, I was reminded how damaging watching meals in front of the TV is to our ability to regulate our appetites, notice hunger and satiety cues, sets us up for obesity and diabetes...And a conference seminar I attended on epigenetics discussed the value of human touch, but also the value of eating meals as a family at the dinner table as a way to impact our phenotypic expression when genetically predisposed to chronic diseases...So, we're eating at the table now. Tyler is tall enough to climb in and out of our nice tall chairs with ease, he's using the placemat Grandma Glass bought him for his birthday, and although Tyson may be doing schoolwork at the table while we eat, at least we're together, and I give Tyler my undivided attention. It is painful though - he takes up to an hour to eat. (Saying "I"m gonna pause it!" is meaningless now!") I'm struggling with the ability to trust the principles of intuitive eating when it comes to Tyler - he went on hunger strike the moment he was born, and I have always had difficulty with appetite and hunger cues (lack thereof, I mean), so I haven't been able to let go and figure, if he's hungry, he'll eat, if not, let him get down. Struggling with it, but I know we'll find our way in time. I think I'm going to try setting the timer for 30 minutes. Or find out what other people have done.

At any rate, the three year old version of Tyler is supercute, even if he does want to chop down all the Truffula Trees.