"Healthy" (or, in other words: outrageously huge) Appetites

O & K, yesterday morning snack

Many times on this blog I’ve mentioned Kyle and Owen’s eating habits. These boys can eat. Pediatricians and children’s health books and articles on child nutrition all go on and on about it — GROWTH SPURTS. I know I’ve said something similar before, but I’ve got to say it again: My boys started what I guess you could call a crazy “growth spurt” the day we met them and they have never exited that “spurt.” They have been growing non-stop and eating what I (and others who witness it) consider excessive amounts of food in a constant state since they were eight months old. Since their last day of daycare (May 22) they’ve been eating even crazier-than-usual amounts of food. I am not sure what is going on here. It may be because they are more physically active now than they were while in daycare (not that they ever weren’t active — God knows, they’re always active — but since ending daycare they’ve been even more SUPER physically active because they have more time/space/ability to do what they love: play outside doing what could best be described as a 3-year-old version of EXTREME SPORTS). So, maybe their latest over-the-top eating binge is related to the fact that while we were on vacation and since being home the boys have been so “active.” Or perhaps it has something to do with the actual ending of daycare. Were they more deeply unhappy there than we knew? Are they now feeling so good that it is manifesting itself in their appetites/eating/physical selves? (not that they ever didn’t eat a lot — they’ve always eaten a TON, but right now they’re just eating soooo much)… Or maybe it is just simply a coincidence… maybe they’re just eating more right now because like all of us they go through phases of eating more or less, and maybe it has nothing to do with the end of daycare?? I know one thing: it has nothing to do with a “growth spurt” — their doctor’s visits chart it quite clearly: they’ve been growing consistently with no breaks ever. Regardless of the reason, let me just say this: THEY ARE EATING A TON. Just to give you an idea… Here is what they have eaten just in the past 24 hours:

• Yesterday before lunch (morning snack) the boys each ate an Odwalla Carrot and Raisin Food Bar, and they each drank a sippie cup of apple juice.
• Yesterday for lunch they went out to eat with Alex and her roommate Esther. Alex reported that the boys “ate more pizza than either she or Esther.” She said they each ate 2.5 slices. I absolutely have no doubt whatsoever that they did. I’ve seen them eat that much pizza in one sitting many, many times.
• Afternoon snack — I have no idea what Alex gave them (I’m sure she gave them some snacks), but between the time that I got home from work and when they ate dinner they each ate a sugar-free fudgsicle, a glass of cranberry juice, about 1/4 cup of cashews, and they shared a bag of microwave popcorn.
• Dinner — Between the two of them they ate an entire box of Annie’s Shells and White Cheddar (mac n cheese), about 3/4 cup of peas (3/4 cup EACH), they each ate 1/2 a pear, and they shared 1/4 pound of turkey. In addition, they each drank a sippie cup full of whole milk.
• Today, Pre-breakfast snack — They each drank between 1-3 sippie cups of whole milk (their normal/daily morning milk chugging). Braydon gave it to them, so I don’t know for sure how much. They each ate a Nutrigrain Cereal Bar.
• Breakfast — They each ate a banana, a bunch of french toast, and 2 sippie cups of orange juice (each).
• Lunch — They each ate 1/2 a sandwich (turkey, cheese, mayo on whole wheat bread), and they each ate about 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes, a handful of raw red pepper slices, a few pickles, a handful of potato chips, and a juice box.
• Note: they are napping right now, but before their nap Kyle told me that when he wakes up he wants to “eat yogurt and Fig Newtons.” I’m sure he will.