Stalling..

These are currently my favorite new pants of Xandra's. I bought them slightly too big (they thankfully have a drawstring, so I could 'cinch' her in them). But they just look sooo comfy! I wish I had a pair!!

She's munching on a piece of bread (not just any bread- a hot dog bun... don't ask). I know all kids go through stalling and Xandra is no exception. She's become a master in her own right. We've been battling her for months now on eating. She's to the point where she almost regularly skips breakfast and dinner, and only eats lunch at school (weekends are an absolute battle). It's not for lack of trying on our part, but I refuse to force-feed her. She's always been a "grazer" but I've put my foot down recently, refusing to let her snack so much & requiring her to try bites of our meal before she can opt for some other food.

Back to my stalling story - she once again refused dinner. Matt & I ate & cleaned up. I let Xandra know that I was saving her meal for when she got hungry, which happened about an hour later. She begged, whined, cried to please just have a bowl of cereal. I told her repeatedly that was fine... AFTER she tried a bite of dinner. She hated that idea, and decided to just not eat.. until I announced bedtime. All of a sudden, she decided at that moment that she was hungry enough to try dinner. Fine. Then she wanted that piece of bread. Ok. Then she wanted to give lots & lots of hugs to daddy & mommy while she was supposed to be getting her pj's on. When I started getting upset with her for stalling, she whined & wanted to talk about it.. stalling MORE!! Then she "couldn't" potty, and argued with me about brushing teeth. Then she couldn't find the perfect book to read. AAAAHHHHHHHH!!

We have started threatening to take away her bedtime story if she continues to stall. I absolutely hate the idea of that. I cherish reading to her. And she's started "reading" to us now, which I really want to encourage. But the stalling has got to get under control! At bedtime though, there really just isn't much I can threaten to take away. She also knows that I don't want to do time-out's at that late hour (it would just allow her to stay up later!), and she seems to take advantage of that. I'm just about out of ideas! Anyone out there in the blogosphere have any thoughts?? I'm almost at the end of my rope on this one!