Keeping Monsters at Bay.

Do you remember being a small child and having bad dreams about monsters? How your mom and/or dad would come in to the room, make a production out of looking for said monsters, and, naturally, not finding any, dispel your fears and you would go back to bed?

Who gets rid of the monsters when you are a grown-up? That's what I want to know. Where do the monster exterminators go and how can I hire one?

I've been worried about Miss Sunshine's weight gain for, well, her entire life. She has NEVER gained well. We initially attributed this to her cleft - she had to work harder to eat, thereby burning more calories, so naturally she wouldn't gain weight as quickly. That was our logic. We added calories where we could and sometimes it would help, but more often than not it didn't. Miss Sunshine was almost perfectly in the 50th percentile for weight when she was born. She lost so much weight in the hospital (while we were trying to nurse, after being told we could) they nearly kept her, but our doctor had faith that we would handle it better at home and let us go. She gained barely enough weight that first week home to satisfy him. And it's been a constant struggle since.

At Miss Sunshine's 18 month appointment, she managed to clear the scales just over 20 pounds. But she had grown so many inches at that point that our doctor really felt she was just expending all her calories growing taller and that's why there wasn't a huge weight gain (although she did move from the 3rd to the 6th percentile in weight between her 15 month check and her 18 month check). As time approaches for her 2 year check (I'm still in shock my baby is nearly two, by the way) my fears for her weight gain are rearing their ugly head yet again. Last time we weighed her, she was barely tipping the scales at 22 pounds. That's a significant weight gain at this age, I know, but not enough for her. She needs to gain more. Granted, she has grown nearly 2 and a half inches in this time as well, but still, we need more weight. And considering we are now in that lovely "I'm eating one thing and one thing only forever" phase (which in our case translates into pop tarts and yogurt, with an occasional allowance of macaroni and cheese) this makes my weight gain fears even larger. I've considered adding something like pediasure to her diet, but then I worry that something like that will just fill her up and she'll refuse to eat at all. As it is, the only meal she really consistently eats daily is breakfast. Then she pretty much grazes the rest of the day. We never seem to get a real lunch in her, because she's ready for nap then and eating is the least of her worries. And dinner is pretty infrequent as well. Sometimes she'll wolf down her food, other days we are lucky to get a bite in her. And Mommy worries. And worries. And worries some more.

And that's the monster hiding under my bed. Now, will someone come chase the darn thing away?