Eye On the Prize

First I want to thank all of you who left comments on my plea for advice. The "no" phase has subsided for now and our old Colin has returned. Not only has his behavior improved, his sleeping and appetite have returned to normal as well. I can't help but think these were all side effects of the antibiotic he was on. It's no coincidence that all of these things magically disappeared after the medicine was gone. Whatever the case may be, we're delighted to be back to normal for now.

As I mentioned, his monster appetite has returned with a vengeance. He's apparently making up for lost time because his breakfasts extend throughout the morning, consuming the equivalent of 2 meals. He is such a good eater and for that we are so thankful. We've always offered him a wide array of different foods and he's always responded well. Perhaps we have the next Top Chef on our hands!

The one thing he's not fond of is meat. He gets it honestly because I could go several days without it myself. Tonight's meal was Beef Tips with Noodles (recipe to come in another post) and green beans. I knew he'd gobble up the noodles and green beans but I wasn't so sure about the meat. Enter the bribery techniques. One thing he'll always eat (unless he's sick) is bread. I had a crescent roll from several nights ago and it spoke to me when I saw it on the counter. There wasn't enough for all of us but I could use it as bribery to make Colin eat all of his dinner. I told him he could have a roll if he ate all his dinner. He of course wanted to know where it was and what it looked like. I told him but then I decided a little visual temptation might have more effect. I put it on the table so he could see it. Um yeah, he literally inhaled his dinner, meat and all, and never took his eye off the prize. When I finally gave it to him, he let out a giddy chirp and proclaimed, "I'm so happy!" He ate every bite and I loved every minute of watching him and his enjoyment. It's the simple things!

There's a story behind the "happy" thing. Wes tells him that he's not happy with him when he does something he doesn't approve of. So Colin has taken to asking both of us if we're happy at random times. It's really quite pitiful and makes us feel about 1 inch tall but we have to stick to our guns when we're not happy. Recently he's also started asking us what makes us happy. I'm not sure if he's been trying to find out what the word really means or if he'd like us to tell him when we ARE happy and not so much when we AREN'T. Either way, I think he's got the meaning down.

Oh and Pillsbury, feel free to contact me if you'd like to use any or all of the above images in a commercial!