Doe, A Deer, A Female Deer

The highlight of the day was a the family of deer that strolled through our backyard. I know, I know, we need more exciting lives. There were five total, looked like a a buck, a doe and what I believe were three fawn. There were definitely three that still had the white spots on them, although two of the young ones seemed considerably larger than the smallest one which I couldn't really explain. The two larger fawns were also pretty skittish and never really left the cover of the forest to come out into the yard area. Pretty sure they were all just passing through, the female and one of the fawns did eventually come over and try out the salt lick we have in the yard which was right in front of us.




All this occurred with Quinn and Catherine out on the deck walking back and forth to get better views. The deer were pretty paranoid, but the kids were very quiet and did really good. The whole encounter was probably under 10 minutes, and it had to happen right as I was grilling hamburgers on the grill too, I almost ended up letting a couple burgers cook longer than they should have.


We've had what I believe to be a massive setup back with Quinn eating new things. I personally blame all the time he spent in Richmond. Let me state that I'm not saying I would prefer he didn't go, it's just that when he's there he gets to play his Uncle JJ's Wii as much as he wants, gets incredibly spoiled and basically is catered to all the time (all this could be incorrect, but it's what I tend to believe). And I can't emphasize enough have no problem with any of that. It's just once he's back home he tends to think that's the way it should be and wants to assert his will a bit more than I would like, specifically when it has been related to eating. He's to the point now where he won't even eat things he does like, like chicken nuggets. Telling us he "won't eat them" because they're "not from Wendy's" or "not from KFC" when he used to eat those same kind before with no problem.

It's probably an unfortunate coincidence that this attitude cropped up just as I'm nearing the the end of my steroid medication. I don't know if this is a side effect of the medicine, but I've been sleeping a lot less for the past week and I feel as if I'm a bit on edge at times because of that. Combine that fact with Quinn making blanket declarations at the table about what he will and will not eat and we suddenly had a serious battle of wills on our hands.

The short version of the story is "Longest... Lunch... Evar!" The extended version is that Ginger was ready to tell him he would be having the nuggets for all upcoming meals until he actually ate them. I, on the other hand, decided I could wait him out and that we would simply stay at the table until he decided to eat his lunch. I explained that he could eat and the get up and go play, or we could sit there until dinner, the choice was his. And he choose to simply sit there. The story has a semi happy ending because after about 90 minutes after Ginger and Catherine had left Quinn had a huge meltdown (which not only do I think he forced, but I also think was a test to see if I was going to change my position). Once he realized I wasn't budging, he decided to eat his lunch and I might add that he was quite cordial and pleasant once he made that decision. Anyway, it just seems like we've lost a lot of forward progress. Add to the fact that he starts school in a little over a week and we have no idea what to pack him for lunch that he will actually eat and we're starting to get a tad concerned.

I will give the boy props for at least taking an extremely small bite of hamburger at the beginning of the lunch meal. Of course he immediately decided he didn't like it and wasn't going to eat anymore, which since that's something new, that's fine. It bothers me that he's already made his mind up about what he will like and not like before trying anything, since at dinner we gave him one piece of corn from some corn on the cob and he decided he wasn't going to like it when he tried it. The thing was when he did try it I could tell he didn't actively dislike it (there was no gag face, which is a dead giveaway), but he still wouldn't admit to liking it since he had already convinced himself beforehand that he didn't like it. I'm just not sure how much more of this drama I can take.