Grandparents know instinctively...

[AustinBoston]

...how to spoil their grandchildren.

Our daughter and her Marine husband recently moved up here to the Twin Cities.  During the transition, they lived in our house for a time.  This naturally led to us occasionally babysitting our granddaughter, who is not yet one.

Now our daughter has decided that only the healthiest, most wholesome, organc foods would come near her daughter.  She gets her mother's milk, organic oatmeal, and a few other similar foods.  No processed sugar at all.

So just imagine her horror (and our glee) when this finest of all granddaughters decided she really loved fudgicles!  :Z

Mom came home to find her pure and wholesome daughter contaminated by chocolate all around and inside her mouth and tummy.

She knew better than say anything, but she was mortified that we would think of such an evil thing.   :Z But grandparents just know how to spoil their grandkids.  And in this case, we spoiled our daughter as well.

Since this girl has tasted fuge popsicle, her mother has let her taste all kinds of other things (though not sugary things - just carefully selected and prepared table foods).

We all went to the Minnesota state fair yesterday (Saturday), and we ate all kinds of things.  That's what you do at the fair.  Of course, our precious granddaughter got to try many of them.  She liked the Australian fried potatoes, but she devoured the Sweet Martha's chocolate chip cookie, shoving entire quarter-sized pieces into her mouth.  At first, she only wanted to lick the chocolaty coating off my fudge puppy, but soon learned to bite down to get some of the waffle underneath.

We drew the line at corn dogs, however.  Corn meal can be a real problem for some people to digest, and throwing that at an 11 month old (when she's already trying lots of other things) was too much even for us.  The hot dog under that corn meal, and the deep fried cheese curds were also off the list.  She'll get those next year.  

One of the results of this was that she really wanted either grandma or grandpa to hold her.  "Mom is OK if I need to nurse, but Noni and Grandpa keep giving me the really good stuff."

Of course, we bought her a toy or two, along with some clothes that she just had to have (whether she needed them or not).  But the flavors she tasted at the fair (including a few she didn't like) were, um, priceless.

We just knew how to do this...there was no course to take or book to read.  And we're loving it!

Austin

[austinado16]

You two are evil......a curse on your house!  Hopefully, you'll be on the receiving end of that pending diaper change! Heheheheee.

My inlaws taught our daughter to cuss, drink coke, and want chocolate milk over regular milk.....fun stuff to de-tune if that's not the direction you're taking with verbal communication and nutrition.

[harleywolf]

You know it

[AustinBoston]

...how to spoil their grandchildren.

And in this case, we spoiled our daughter as well.

Update: Yesterday (Labor Day), we spent some time at an historic site near St. Paul.  After spending time on my feet in the hot sun, I bought some chip mix (pretzels, Doritos, and Sun Chips covered with cheeze-like stuff), and the only thing left in the drink machine was Mountain Dew.  While I was eating this, I was also sitting watching our WGD in her stroller, and she was watching me.  Now this stuff was not something I felt it would be appropriate to give her, so it broke my heart  :%  to see her just watching my every move, and occasionally reaching for some.  I held the line.

Later, we went to Mikey's Diner in St. Paul for an early supper.  While waiting for our food, I notice our WGD's mother, our DD, feeding her straight grape jelly!  Now I might have given her a taste (a spot the size of a pea at most), the next thing I know, she's been fed half the package!  Hello?  Mrs. Wholesome Organic Mother?  What are you feeding your daughter now?

Our food arrived, and I figured WGD would get some French fries or stuff like that, but the next thing I know, DW (PJay) is feeding her baked beans!  Again, I might have given her a bean or two, but she's feeding them to her like it was Gerber's.  Hello?  Ever have a gassy baby?  I thought that was over the edge.

Being a grandparent is great, but there need to be some limits somewhere.  None of this was going to kill her, but come on, now...baked beans at 11 months?

Austin

WGD = Wonderful GrandDaughter

[Kelly]

Being a grandparent is great, but there need to be some limits somewhere.  None of this was going to kill her, but come on, now...baked beans at 11 months?

ROFLMAO ~ my youngest LOVED LOVED LOVED baked beans!  Somewhere between 11 months and 11.5 months she weaned herself and moved on to people food.  She couldn't stand that we were all eating something she wasn't! She's the kid who is always hungry and perpetually in motion.  Oh to have that kind of energy again!  

[cyclone]

This thread is cracking me up - a year ago my brother, two of his sons, and two grandsons came to visit.  (brother is older than me - I'm way too young to be a great aunt.)     Anyway, the baby was nearly 9 months old at the time.  His mother was reluctant to start him on anything other than soft baby food.  We all know how tasty that stuff is.  She wasn't along on this trip, just Daddy.  Well, my brother decided it was time to do what all good grandparents do and introduced Noah to bagels, pizza, French toast, and I don't know what all.  It was so funny to see how happy that baby was eating "real" food.

[austinado16]

Is it just universal that "new" parents don't feed their kids real food for what seems like forever? What's with that?  I'm old school and we threw everything at Kate and just enjoyed the heck out of it.  Plus, she finally started sleeping longer than an hour at a time.

That and the nursing that's goes past a year........what up wit dat?

[AustinBoston]

That and the nursing that's goes past a year........what up wit dat?

The evidence is that newborn kids don't need anything but mother's milk for their first two years.  PJay always drew the line at getting bit, which was well before two years.

Believe it or not, certain segments of corporate America hates nursing mothers with a passion, because they don't buy baby formula.  They succeeded in convincing most mothers in the 50's and 60's that the best food in the world for infants was bad for them, and they had something better.  With billions of dollars at stake, it has been difficult to overcome.

Austin

[austinado16]

The evidence is that newborn kids don't need anything but mother's milk for their first two years.  PJay always drew the line at getting bit, which was well before two years......Austin

I don't know who's fabricating that "evidence" but the kids I'm seeing that have moms that won't let go at or before 12mos are pretty unable to operate on their own.  One little boy we know is still nursing himself by sucking his thumb and he's in kindergarten.

[AustinBoston]

I don't know who's fabricating that "evidence" but the kids I'm seeing that have moms that won't let go at or before 12mos are pretty unable to operate on their own.  One little boy we know is still nursing himself by sucking his thumb and he's in kindergarten.

Then you need to see my granddaughter...there are things she does that kids are not typically capable of before 18 months to two years, and she's 11 months old.

BTW, what you have seen is "mothers who have to be seen nursing their children," which is a far different animal.

Austin

[oldmoose]

I love this thread and we're doing the same thing.

Moose

[austinado16]

Then you need to see my granddaughter...there are things she does that kids are not typically capable of before 18 months to two years, and she's 11 months old.

BTW, what you have seen is "mothers who have to be seen nursing their children," which is a far different animal.

Austin

Doesn't sound like your gd has been nursed for a couple years.....if she's only 11mos.  Sounds like she's being raised pretty normally....ie, 11mos and still nursing seems normal, and you guys are letting her eat real food which she should be, IMO.  The fact that she's being allowed to get herself out there into the real world is probably a HUGE factor in that she's so advanced.

We followed the same path with our daughter, and she was the same way....a can-do kid with self confidence, independance and a love of adventure.

It was shocking to me to see the way so many of her counterparts were being raised.......no real food, nursing for ever, not allowed to use silverware, not allowed to play on the playground equipment, no running, no bicycles, no sports, and on and on.  It's like everyone's read so many coffee-clatch magazines on child safety that they've stopped using their brains and have their kids in a fear cocoon.

I don't get it.

[AustinBoston]

It was shocking to me to see the way so many of her counterparts were being raised.......no real food, nursing for ever, not allowed to use silverware, not allowed to play on the playground equipment, no running, no bicycles, no sports, and on and on.  It's like everyone's read so many coffee-clatch magazines on child safety that they've stopped using their brains and have their kids in a fear cocoon.

I don't get it.

Unfortunately, I think you get it exactly.  

Austin