My cat has discovered how to wake me up so she can demand food. I should really get myself a Roomba and sic in on her.

ND is eagerly awaiting the moment he has the money to buy a Roomba. It is completely the fault of this extremely funny essay (which I think I originally was linked to here, but I can't remember).

Hee. I got predigest instantly. Must be from reading kids writing.

I did too. After ten years of teaching English, I'm extremely good at reading bad handwriting and deciphering mysteriously spelled words.

ION, I just woke up in my new house for the first time!

My niece is that way. 18lbs at 18 months. So wee and precious. Her mom is wee too. Maybe 4'11". I tell you one thing. It is a whole lot easier to haul around a tiny toddler than a big one. No matter what the size they still want to be carried.

Will she eat peanut butter? Have you seen if she's allergic?

Do toddlers do that thing where they get really skinny, then they build up for a bit and get kinda chunky then they have a growth spurt and are really skinny again?

That's the rumor. Em has never been chunky. She was born wee, and wee she remains.

There are some allergies on at least one side, so we're not introducing nuts for at least another year.

It's not thin gruel, so she'll probably be appalled by it.

Yay Kristin! I loved the pictures of the new house. Enjoy.

Mmmmm peanut butter. I lived on the stuff as a kid. Both of mine like it too. #1 breakfast on the run choice is peanut butter on a toasted muffin.

I read somewhere that cream cheese and natural jelly/preserves is a good snack. Or those Keebler cheese with cheese cracker sandwich thingies. Em ate those when she was in her non-eating phase.

We lucked out with Em on the peanut/nuts allergy. Her school gave her one of the peanut butter toast things before we even had a chance to do the peanut test thingie. I was furious, but I found out she's not allergic.

Hmmm, I have a friend who was "fed up" as a baby/toddler and wound up with overweight/obesity issues (so far) for the rest of her life. Is the worry that thin toddlers just aren't growing? Couldn't they just be people who grow at a different rate?

I can't answer medically, but I will say that as a mom who frequently takes her daughter out, part of the reason I want her to gain weight is so that people will STOP TELLING ME TO FEED HER. I feed her. I feed her as often as she wants to eat, She is never denied a snack. She's sometimes denied chips and given a cheese stick, instead. Or grapes. Or carrots. Let me introduce my husband, a.k.a. The Beanpole. Over six feet and barely 170 lbs.

Public opinion is not usually something I listen to or raise my child accordingly, but the weight thing bugs me. It's such a...frustrating thing. Kids are either too skinny or too fat. No wonder there are such issues with body issues in this country.

I didn't mean a criticism! I was just surprised that it's something that is still done. I mean, it could be that what happened when she was a baby/toddler had nothing to do with the way she eats/ate now.

(Heck, I was a skinny kid and teenager and now I'm obese -- in a family of lean people. One thing may have nothing to do with the other.)

Plus, given the amount of press we get about obesity in young children . . . well, actually -- probably the REASON we have so much obesity in young children is this idea that all kids should look a certain way. I guess it does all tie in together.

I've always thought that Em looked like a perfect combination of her parents.