Hidden Broccoli and Time-Out

Why was I even concerned that Brendan wasn't saying "no" yet?!  He's been practicing the word a lot, usually while playing by himself with his toys, it's his own little playtime mantra..."no? no! no?"...most of them sound like they are questions because he's practicing the new sound...  "uh-oh" is still his number one, go-to word...I'll take that over some other choice words that he hears on rare occasion...like damn.

Veggies have still been a struggle, but he did have about 5 green beans while having some pizza (his favorite food by far, followed by string cheese and hot dogs), so I'll take that small victory, even though it was more of a bribe meal...you can have another bite of pizza if you eat this green bean first...it worked!
To get those veggies in, at least the most important ones, like spinach and broccoli, I've been pureeing them with berries and bananas and then putting them in his oatmeal.  I freeze the puree into cubes and thaw 2 and mix it in with the oatmeal, which he has about every 3 days (Trader Joe's breakfast bar one day, Trader Joe's waffle with cinnamon sprinkled on top--B doesn't like syrup-- the other days).  And I still puree baby carrots and then add a cube into his applesauce.  I figure it's better than nothing.  I still put the veggies out so he sees them at dinner time, secretly hoping he'll go back to his old veggie eating ways.

Holy cow!  Yesterday was an awful behavior day.  I know that his canine teeth are really bothering him and you can tell that they'll be coming through sooner than later (why does it take sooooo long?!).  He didn't want to nap, he would fall asleep for about 20 minutes and then wake up screaming, huge tears everywhere.  A total of two 20 minute naps does not bode well...and it wasn't well.  The temper tantrums and the frustration were kicked up to high gear to the point where he was so mean and destructive!  Not my normal little Brendan.  He wanted my bookmark (how dare I read a few pages of my book on the couch while he was quietly playing by himself) and it had dangly beads on it and I decided that could be a bad equation, so of course he was upset that I denied him the bookmark.  He then grabbed my book (library book that is) and ripped 4 pages clear down the middle, stared right at me, as if daring me, then grabbed the book jacket and just held on tight, all the while staring at me.  He really has a death grip with those little heads, so it took some struggling to get the book and the ripped pages out of his hands.  Right then and there I decided it was a good time to start "time-out".  I set him on our wood bench in the entry way and he thought it would be hysterical to stand up and walk on it and almost dive off the edge.  So I had to keep sitting him down, which he thought was sooooo funny, which only made me seethe even more inside.  Maybe my angry face is funny looking?  I should look in the mirror some time and check.  I decided one minute was good for a 16 month old.  That was time-out #1.  Time-out #2 was because he got frustrated at his xylophone, so he threw it and then proceeded to destroy the play-area (where did this aggression come from!?  I haven't thrown anything else since that one incident--I swear!).  The bench wasn't cutting it, so we moved to his rocking chair (that has buckles on it!!!!) and I set the timer for one minute and went down into the basement and cried.  I don't even remember what time-out #3 was for, but by me being able to go into the basement for that one-minute it may have saved Brendan.  My mantra for the moment--this too shall pass, this too shall pass, this too shall pass.