Better Day

It's nice to report some good news.  Lily managed to eat her boiled egg and grapes yesterday.  Therefore, Amanda got a Little Caesar's pizza for dinner last night.  It was a nice break from Lily spending every night in her room.

Meanwhile, my team at work likes Isabella.  She may become something of a team mascot.  Hopefully her stay at the office will only be for a month.

On a much lighter note, Noah and I have nicknames for each other thanks to all the pinball we play on the PS2.  He refers to me as "Player 1" and I call him "Player 2."  When I call home during the day Amanda will say, "Hey Noah!  Player 1 is on the phone."  When she says that he will run and say, "Hey Player 1!"  I don't know how long this will last, but it's fun for right now.

Isabella, We Hardly Knew Ye

Looking back, I should have put a poll on the blog to see who thought Lily would eat her lunch yesterday.  As we feared, she chose not to.  She was not happy to lose Isabella, but I'm afraid that she is going to be living at my office until Lily can have a perfect month of eating lunch.  This also serves to change the dog clock because now Lily won't get a dog until she is 8.  We are going to put it back another month for every day that she does not eat her lunch.  I think I'm going to have to make a chart that we put on the fridge so she can visually understand where she stands with the whole dog thing.

We had a good spiritual discussion last night too.  I asked her if she wants for Jesus to be in charge of her life and she frankly answered, "no."  At least she's honest about it.  I'd say that puts her ahead of millions of Americans who show up to church each week with a false sense of security.  My hope is that this whole business of lunch will turn into meaningful conversations with her about the gospel.  Ultimately that is what will change this hard little heart of hers.

Dates

I had a busy day yesterday.  Lily had a free kids meal from Red Robin coming to her for her birthday, so we went there for lunch.  We also hit doggie day camp, the carousel at Cary Town Center (she rode it by herself!), the used book store, and Lowes.  The highlight at Lowes is that she got to see one of the kindergarten teachers from Northwoods who works there.  In fact, we waited in her line specifically so we could see her.

After that I took Amanda out to dinner and dessert.  We were supposed to go on a canoe trip on Lake Crabtree, but we were getting some much-needed rain.  That has been postponed for a month.  Hopefully the weather will be better then.  I really would not mind having to wear sleeves.

Today is the big day for Lily to eat her lunch.  I really don't want to have to take away Isabella.  But the good news is that this may delay her getting a dog for another year.  She has to decide if it is really worth it for her to put up this fight.  Look for an update tomorrow.

Boys Night Out

As expected, Lily did not eat her lunch and so was relegated to her room, though she made excellent use of her time by voluntarily cleaning up her room. She chose not to partake of dinner.  We're ratcheting up the consequences to something she actually cares about.  She has to pack this week and if she doesn't eat she will lose Isabella.  I will likely take her to my office, so she will have a good home.  Nevertheless, this frightens Lily as she knows I will go through with it.  Of course, this doesn't really deal with the problem as we're just talking about strict behavior modification.  Lily and I have had some good talks about her heart.  She came up with a good illustration that I used -- she is going the way of Anakin on this.

Since Lily was in gulag I took Noah out for the evening.  We went to the local bowling alley and played some pinball, which he enjoyed.  Then we went to Goodberry's and split a parfait.  We had strawberry custard on the bottom, followed with banana chunks, vanilla custard, pineapple, and whipped cream.  Noah asked to eat the cherry on top.  That's my boy!

After that we went to Play N' Trade to look around and finished with a stop at Harris Teeter to get Amanda a little dessert.  We had a great time out and Noah was still talking about it this morning.  That's when I know that we did well.

Today will be a busy one with my seminary picnic at Jordan Lake at lunchtime.  Then I will have to go to church a little early to work in the bookstore.  Tomorrow three of us will have pancakes for breakfast and one will have oatmeal, but I think I'm still going to take her out on a daddy-daughter date.  We need to connect.

Lunchtime

As longtime readers of this blog know, we have had some pretty epic battles with Lily.  Overall, Lily is an extremely sweet girl.  She often demonstrates compassion that surprises us and moves us.  Those who interact with her often describe her with words like "sweet" and "wonderful."

But there is also the strong-willed side that we're constantly fighting and have been since 11:06 AM on September 21, 2003.   The latest battle is over her lunch.  She now packs her own lunch because Amanda is tired of bending over backwards to make special things (special bread, various foods) and have Lily spurn them at lunchtime.  Last week I helped her make tuna salad (which she loves) and this week it was chicken salad (which she also loves).  She hasn't eaten them either day she packed this week and she already said that she doesn't plan on eating them today.

We're not quite sure where to go from here.  She's not getting dessert most nights.  I've already told her that she is not getting any treats this weekend if she doesn't eat her lunch.  One thing I've considered is putting her on a third-world diet of rice and beans for a few days (with vitamin supplements) to help her appreciate how good she has it.  I sort of feel like we're dealing with a finicky cat.

We are sure of one thing -- we've come this far with her and we're not about to back down now.  We don't negotiate with terrorists.

Any good ideas?

Birthday

It's been an extraordinarily busy week for me, so I apologize for not posting.  Work has actually been the culprit this time, but I see light at the end of the tunnel and it's not a train.

I wanted to write a bit about Lily's birthday proper.  I had class that day, so we celebrated in the morning.  I got some doughnuts from Harris Teeter and we greeted Lily in her room with candles in her doughnuts.  She enjoyed eating in her room and unwrapping presents.  She had a good day at school and enjoyed some cake with leftover pizza for dinner.  Sadly, for various reasons that was the last she got to enjoy of that cake, but at least she got some.

She keeps looking for more surprises, but they have run out for at least another 3 months.  Nevertheless, she was very happy with her gifts.  The highlight was probably the nail polish that changes color in the sun.  I had a coworker pick some up when she went to St. Maarten for her honeymoon and Lily is loving it.  She has turquoise nails inside, but they are purple outside.

We also have been playing some Monopoly, Jr.  So far Lily is 0 for 2 in games, but we'll keep at it.  It's fun, but it requires no skill.  I think she'll be ready for big Monopoly fairly soon.  Those games have the potential to get a bit ugly someday.

Party

Lily's birthday celebration continued yesterday.  Grandpa Jack and Nana were in town on their way to Florida and they spent the night at the McKenzies.  The McKenzies were kind enough to have us over for a little party.  Amanda made a cake for Lily and brought over pizza.  I met them there from work.  We had a great time.  Her favorite gift was probably the rainbow projector, but ultimately I'm sure that she will like other things more.

She was a little disappointed that we couldn't play LEGO Star Wars after we got home, but it was time for bed. Of course, Noah was not to be denied either.  When I told her that we couldn't play LEGO Star Wars he asked, "How about a little pinball?"  Good try, kid.