No napping = tantrum

I am befuddled by Nikko's chicken nugget strike. He does not want to eat them, nor the grapes that go with it. In fact, he's not eating anything I've given him, consistently at that. He tasted some of the red kidney beans in the chili, and is definitely eating the bread rolls with Earth Balance butter, but that's not ideal for meals. I've hit up the cookbooks to try to find new things to make him. Yesterday the cheese quesadillas were a hit, but today they were a strike. What am I going to feed him tomorrow??

This morning Allie and Sabrina came over for me to babysit for an hour or two. The boys enjoyed their company and played around them, not really with them. At least the boys can tolerate their cousins even if they are older. The girls were very sweet to my boys, too. During Ronin's naptime I took Nikko outside to run around while Denis mowed the lawn. We had cool weather outside but it felt nice to me. I'm always hot. I lured him inside with fruit snacks. He continued watching the Signing Time DVD inside, but he didn't tire out for a nap until he was sitting at the dinner table. That's when he had a huge tantrum. I was trying to coax him to either eat or put his head down on the table to sleep, but he just wanted to rest it on my wrist. I had to feed Audrey so I moved away. Nikko was mad, so in the middle of the kitchen I picked him up to give him reassurance and hugs. He liked the view apparently, because when I put him down to go back to feeding Audrey he was demanding I go back to the middle of the kitchen, stand there and carry him. I wouldn't do it, and he flipped out. It was incredible hard to soothe him without losing my cool. I can't say that I didn't raise my voice, but I tried to calm down and be reassuring yet firm. Eventually he calmed down and walked away to see what Denis was eating by the kitchen sink, but the meltdown really took a lot of energy emotionally out of me. Tomorrow will be busy with DT and OT, without any Chinny. :(