April 2, 2002 - Tuesday
Yesterday's unflattering and unsavory behavior continued this morning starting at about 5:00am when Harry woke up from Jeremy's crying. He said he was hungry so I brought him some dry Kix and Cheerios and laid on his bed for about 45 minutes. He didn't eat many Kix and was probably just saying he was hungry because I had tried so hard to convince him yesterday that he needed to eat. When we got up he was not all that anxious to eat his breakfast cereal and the whining continued. But, since his mother and I were feeling more strongly that hunger following several days of poor eating was likely the cause of his bad form, we played it pretty tough and made sure he ate well, including drinking his orange juice.

OJ is something we have every day after his dose of "zingy" vitamins and Harry always gets a glass with little more than an ounce or two at the bottom. Some days he'll say he likes it and some days not, but he always drinks it, albeit sometimes with our help. Today, we tried not to help him, thinking that it was just a bad habit that we have to break. Unfortunately, Harry wasn't playing along and that led to a standoff with us leaving him alone at the table until he did drink it and the inevitable crying to follow. I moved into the living room and started looking at the day's news on the computer, keeping an eye on Harry through the opening in the hearth, but trying to ignore the noise as much as possible.

Eventually, Harry stopped crying and his mood changed dramatically once he had no real audience. He actually started singing a song and looked at me through the hearth, probably for a compliment. I used the moment to return to the table and end the stalemate. I picked up his juice, raised it to his lips, and he drank it without hesitation. So, he won and I gave in. But, I think maybe we'd made the point as much as we were going to for one day.

After that we came to the living room together and Harry immediately asked to "watch steam engines" on the web. But, before I got that far I happened to open this home page and got a better idea. I clicked on Friends/Family then to Photos with Dad and started to look at some of the fun moments we've had together - beaver tree, Jumping on dad, In the Leaves and others that reinforced the fun times we've had. We laughed and I hugged him and laughed some more and all seemed to be forgiven.

Later in the day, I went in his room to get Harry after his afternoon nap and picked him up. He was still tired and a little weary, so he snuggled into my shoulder the way little children do and as we walked toward the door, he whisper, "I love you, daddy." Indeed, all was forgiven, at least for now.


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