weight loss

As I have been doing the laundry the last few weeks, there have been several times when I have discovered some of Rachel's jeans with the button and the zipper done up. That worries me. Those jeans fit her quite well during the summer, but now she can apparently take them off without undoing them. I was in the bathroom with her the other day and noticed that she unzipped the zipper, but didn't undo the button. She even remembered to zip the zipper back up. Anyway, her little idiosyncrasies don't worry me, they generally just make me shake my head and smile, but her weight loss concerns me. Her eating habits seem to go through cycles. For awhile she will eat a lot of everything, regardless of what it is. Then, for no reason that I can see, she nearly refuses to eat and/or swallow her food. Usually we have something somewhere in the middle, but the extremes really concern me.

Last night we had homemade pizza twists for dinner, which is one of her favorites (when she will acknowledge a favorite, that is, which isn't often). We were eating downstairs and I had come upstairs for just a minute. I could hear Daddy talking to her, asking her if she was finished eating, if she liked it, and if she wanted more. I couldn't hear her responses, but then Daddy told her if she wanted more she should go upstairs and ask Mommy. I could hear her quickly coming up the stairs, and she handed me her plate. I smiled at her and waited for just a second, and she said "More pizza, please" (I LOVE it when she smiles and asks for things appropriately - her smile is cute, and I know I'm giving her what she wants instead of just guessing). I put more on her plate, and she waited patiently while I cut it up for her, then she carefully and happily carried it back downstairs to eat. I didn't even have to push her to drink her water. So maybe the weight loss will resolve itself. Hopefully she will take care of it on her own, because I really don't enjoy spending an hour every meal trying to get her to swallow a few more bites. Even though I know it is necessary, I still feel mean.

This morning she ate her breakfast without any problems or complaints, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.