Oh, Gag Me!

Most of you know about my gag-reflex that was easily triggered when I was a kid. I often 'lost my cookies' at the dinner table when something I didn't like touched my tender tastebuds. The biggest triggers were cooked carrots, even when my dad tried to camouflage them in my mashed potatoes (I still can't eat those nasty things), and other cooked veggies like celery, onions, etc. I even tried tricking my dad sometimes by shoveling a bunch of the nasty food into my mouth and stating I had to use the bathroom so I could flush them instead of eat them. My siblings were often disgusted and usually ate as quickly as they could so they could leave the table before my gagging started. It made my parents crazy and a little furious... now that I am a parent I have a better understanding, but I couldn't help it at the time.

So, I'm sure to the enjoyment of my siblings, my weak gag reflex has been passed on to my darling Cole and I am getting "paid back" for the torture I gave my parents as a kid. Cole might look just like Russ, but he definitely has a lot of me in him. We didn't notice the gagging until after we had Garrett. I started bathing both boys together and would give Garrett his vitamins in the tub because they are so messy. Garrett didn't like the taste of the vitamins (I can't blame him -- the smell is enough to knock anyone over) and would spit them out. If Cole saw the vitamins coming out of Garretts mouth he would throw up as well. This happened a few times and I finally decided to give up on the vitamins to save myself a lot of cleaning up. Floaties in the tub does not equal clean kids!

Another time at dinner we were encouraging Cole to eat green beans. He used to pound them as a baby in the pureed form - we could get him to eat anything if it was dipped in the baby food, so we didn't think it would be a problem. I bribed Cole with a pudding for dessert if he ate them. So, while he's eating a few bites he is saying, "I like green beans - they are yummy" while I can tell his insides are screaming, "Yuk". He really wanted that pudding. He ate four beans and on the fifth one he couldn't take it any more and up it came back up - all over his plate.

The first time we fed Garrett solids (rice cereal) was a Saturday morning. I made waffles for breakfast for the rest of us and while Cole was finishing up I got the rice cereal ready. Russ had the video camera rolling, I put a scoop of rice cereal in Garrett's mouth and he spit some of it out because he was getting used to the new texture. That was all it took for Cole. Russ exclaimed, "Cole you are fine. Stop it", but it was too late and the fresh waffles made their debut a second time, and it was all caught on tape! Quite an exciting first meal for Garrett.

And just this past Sunday we were having dinner at our neighbor's house - roast, mashed potatoes and cooked carrots. Cole was doing fine, had eaten a few carrots, but after three he lost it, all over his plate. I was a bit embarassed, but could really sympathize with him. I didn't even take any carrots because I knew I would do the same thing.

So, the curse has come full circle and hopefully this is some justice to my family that I tortured at the dinner table growing up. But, in my defense - it really must be genetic and not just in my head!