Somebody please tame baby girl’s appetite!

There are many ways to kill our baby girl’s appetite loss. Recently our doctor prescribed one: Multi-vitamin syrup. Before that, Pudd’ng’s grandmother suggested a herbal remedy, which is always at the back of our minds.

We did not know what exactly to expect from the prescription. But the doctor vouched for it, saying it was the best in the market.

Here are lessons learnt from Pudd’ng’s multi-vitamin use so far…

MORSEL-MOVING FAITH

While writing in the bedroom, I hear Pudd’ng shuffling from the living room to the kitchen. She opens the fridge. I know she is peering inside. Looking for a snack.

Finding nothing readily-edible inside the fridge, she shuffles back to the living room. This futile “raid” is repeated several times. As if she believes nibbles will drop from the freezer. What faith.

“I want something to eat while watching TV,” Pudd’ng finally implores Prophet Pop to do miracles because her faith is not moving any morsels.

Forewarned is forearmed. If your baby is taking multi-vitamins, your budget better be shipshape.

HIDDEN AGENDA

We are on the balcony, shooting the breeze. But Pudd’ng is uneasy. She has her skipping rope, which I thought would keep her busy.

After jumping for a short time, baby girl insists that she wants to go inside and watch TV.

“You don’t want to go and play with your friends?” we ask, but she shakes her head.

This is a first: Our daughter choosing to stay indoors alone and turning down our offer to play outside till she drops. As we later find out, she has a hidden agenda, which has everything to do with her multi-vitamin use.

PUTTING SNACKS BEFORE THE MEAL
It is lunchtime when Pudd’ng knocks on the door on the second-last day of the school term.

On such days, they are asked to carry plenty of snacks for a party. For baby girl, plenty means enough to feed her classmates and have 12 baskets of leftovers.

And so this lunchtime …

“I asked the teacher for permission,” Pudd’ng confesses, adding that Tenderoni forgot to give her snacks.

“Have you even had your lunch?” I ask, to which she says no.

In the evening when she returns from school is when I notice that she hardly touched her lunch. The culprit is snacks.

Apparently, there are some quirks — (such as putting snacks before a meal) — that multi-vitamins cannot change.

AN EGGS AND CHICK STORY
Another random weekday. As I prepare Pudd’ng something to eat, baby girl, who has just returned from school, comes to the kitchen on hearing me whipping up eggs.

“Dah-dee? Are you frying for me an egg?” she queries, then requests that I should fry for her two, which she soaks in ketchup.

Barely an hour later, a famished Tenderoni returns and fries an egg to take with her tea. She is savouring it when Pudd’ng asks if she can have a bite.

One bite leads to one too many.

At this egg-eating rate, we will either have to raise layers or ditch the prescription.

CREATING A TRENCHERMAN

Our daughter has a habit of asking for foods that have run out. You will see her peeking in the fridge and asking loudly where the cheese went. And this is something she never touches.

With her twice-a-day dose of multi-vitamin, we have created a trencherman. I can hear our daughter asking for the cheddar she ate, thinking that someone else had consumed it. Pudd’ng’s appetite has returned with a bang. Yesterday, she licked the empty jam tin clean. Later, I found her putting sugar in the tin to whet her appetite.

Nowadays each time we tell her to clear the table after breakfast, she takes years in the kitchen. When she returns to the living room, there is always brownish powder on her cheeks. Drinking chocolate.

And she is poker-faced, as if that is blush or foundation.

UNHIDDEN AGENDA

Hours later, when Tenderoni and I enter the house, we find our daughter seated on the floor, eyes glued to the tube. Beside her is the plastic container that holds potato crisps. The container is literally licked clean.

“I was seating here watching cartoons when I felt I needed something to eat.”

The doctor did not warn us that one of the multi-vitamin’s side effects is eating under the influence of cartoons. Aha. Multi-vitamin buyers beware.

PSST. “What’s swag?” I ask Pudd’ng over lunch after hearing her use the word.

She demonstrates what it means. Picking food with affectation. Carrying it to her mouth with pretentiousness. Chewing slowly and deliberately, full of airs.

No sweat. The multi-vitamin will take care of Miss Prettiness’ swag.