Aliens

It occured to me that aliens may be residing in my son.  If there were one or maybe dozens of little critters in there it might explain how he could possibly eat so much food.  It defies conventional understanding.  Maybe I'm just watching too much Dr. Who lately.

When he first came home he would eat and eat and eat until I finally just had to take the food away before his cute little belly popped.  He looked like he was pregnant.  Apparently many if not most Ethiopian adoptees do this when they first come home.  For Elias, it was probably because of the short timeframe in which food was available at the orphanage, rather than any overall lack.  Like the others, and like his pediatrician said, that gorging behavior eventually faded away and he now stops on his own when he's full.

We eventually worked our way down from 5 full (huge) meals a day to 3 large meals and 2-3 snacks.  I've never known a pre-teen to eat so much, or such varied food, which is great.  Spicy, exotic, mushy, green, hard:  nearly everything's welcome.  Often he tells me, "Mom, this is deeeLICious!"  Two exceptions are hot-temperature food, and most bread products.  Favorites are broccoli, corn, chocolate, green beans, cookies, and anything potato (he eats the skin off baked potatoes first).  I try to keep it varied and minimally processed, although I notably give in with frequent mac-and-cheese (with peas and hot dog add-ins).

But back to the alien hypothesis.  He eats a lot, but usually within the realm of reason.  Once in a while he'll have a few days were he won't hardly touch dinner (like most little kids I've known), and about as frequently he'll go to the other extreme.  Tuesday I had a weird craving for Italian, so after his afternoon audiology appointment (at which he did very well and was all-around adorable) we went out to Olive Garden.  He had a children's dinner which was broccoli, spaghetti, and grilled chicken breast.  They didn't substitute whole wheat linguini as requested, so brought an additional plate of that, too.  Elias set to work.  He steadily and rapidly forked in bite after huge bite until the broccoli, then the 1st spaghetti, then 2nd spaghetti were completely gone, deeply impressing our waiter and even surprising me.  I took 1/2 of mine home, so next time maybe I'll have the child's meal!  When we got home he found, asked for and then got some Easter chocolate and a whole baked yam, then a little later insisted I make him a peanut butter & jelly sandwich (I made it a 1/2 sandwich).  Goodness!  He only stopped when I put him to bed (with his usual nighttime milk).  He acted like it was all perfectly normal.  I, on the otherhand, after my rich, 1/2 dinner spent several hours that night with a severe stomach ache.  I probably even gained weight from eating out.

It's scary contemplating Elias as a teen-ager.  I may have to get a second job!

He did grow about an inch over the last month, but is actually looking skinnier.  I suppose all that food is mostly fueling his hyperactivity...and maybe sustaining a few aliens.