A Bad Phase...

About a month ago, my best friend, Bethany, wrote a post for her blog about an annoying phase her 2 yr old girl, Lily, was going through where she would hold her food in her mouth and not swallow (sometimes even up to an hour and a half!). When I read the post, I kind of chuckled to myself that such a sweet girl could be so clever...and so defiant.

I wish I hadn't laughed.

Evan has started doing the exact same thing. Except he only does it at supper time when he's eating foods he's never tried or would rather not eat (even if they're delicious!)...and Evan, unlike Lily, can only hold it in his mouth for about 5 minutes before his gagging reflexes kick in and he pukes. No, projectile vomits...all over the table. Thankfully, the rest of the family is usually done eating by that point...but the thing is I can't stand puke. Seeing puke makes me puke. And my mom and my sister are the same way. So my poor husband is left cleaning him up every time (lest more puke have to be cleaned up than necessary).

I'm at my wit's end to figure out how to get past this phase that has been going on for three weeks now. We're stubborn enough to wait it out, for sure, but I'm just not very patient, so the long time is wearing me down. I treasure the few precious moments at night with my husband!
Anyway, here are a few pictures of his "chipmunk cheeks."

At first, he's pretty proud of himself for this clever idea...

It's hard to hold a smile with all that food stored up in your mouth, though...

...that's when the gagging begins...

Pretty soon he realizes...
...this isn't much fun...(for anyone!)

(and I know I should probably limit how many times I take pictures of Evan disobeying and being naughty...but it's hard to resist!)