To eat or not to eat?

This Thanksgiving took the prize for the strangest and most frustrating so far. It's usually one of my favorite holidays, but this year, I couldn't wait for it to be over. Over the past three years of Savannah's life, she has gone through spurts of refusing to eat. This usually starts with several days of chewing food and then letting it dribble out of her mouth onto the floor (or my shoulder), and then several more days of full blown fasting. As fate would have it, Thanksgiving coincided with one of these bizarre flare-ups.

Since I can't fathom Thanksgiving without gluttony, I tried every trick to convince Savannah that eating is more fun than not eating. We made pancakes for breakfast, but she refused to touch them. (Seriously, are we related?)

After many other failed attempts at even getting her to taste something, I whipped out the Holy Grail of kid bribes in our house -- olives! She did go as far as to put them on her fingers, but not in her mouth. Hyrum was kind enough to eat them for her.

So, to distract myself from going crazy with frustration and worry about Savannah's "diet", I decided to trim Vivian's Gollum hair. The mullet had to go!

Ahhh...much better! (And thank you Hyrum for vacuuming while I cut her hair. Nothing hypnotizes Viv like that frightening appliance.)

My next project was to pack up my maternity clothes. Yes, I was still wearing maternity clothes, and yes, Viv is 8 months old...and yes, I miss them. (Don't judge.) Hyrum was nice enough to do all the heavy lifting and didn't even complain about having to reorganize the dreaded storage closet. What a gem!


When it was finally time to go to Grandma's for dinner, Savannah threw the loudest and most intense tantrum I've ever seen. This really confused me, because she had been very excited about going to the "Turkey Party". I kept glancing down the street for the inevitable arrival of the police, but Hyrum was able to wrangle her into her car seat before they showed up.

I always liked the song, "Over the river and through the woods", because of the cozy image it provides. But in real life, there should be a verse about a crying three-year-old. Kind of ruins things.


During dinner, Hyrum and I took turns holding Savannah and / or Vivian, so I didn't get any pictures of the food (or really get to eat much of it for that matter). However, after a couple rounds of Lady and the Tramp, Savannah's spirits were lifted and she agreed to be in this picture with Viv, but she still refused to eat.

We were able to get her a doctor's appointment on the following Monday, but by then, she was eating again. We still aren't sure why she does this. Possible theories range from sore throats to teething, but no one is sure. I just hope it's the last time!

How was your holiday?