Arranged Marriage (Jackson Wang FF)

BONUS CHAPTER: ONE YEAR OF HEAVEN AND HELL (5)

Solid journey

ELLIE

Geez, here I thought medicine was hard. And surgery was harder. But apparently I was wrong. The twins were supposed to have their solid food in a few weeks. Since I was no pediatrician, I consulted the pediatrician, but she just gave long list of do and dont's, list of the nutrients that I should give them and some optional methods to feed them. She gave me the warning signs like iron deficiency and anemia, but she couldn't help if the twins refused the meal. She could only suggest several methods to try, but nothing was guaranteed. Everything was trial and error.

"Were you a fussy eater?" I asked Jackson one night, hoping that if he wasn't one, hopefully the twins wouldn't be one as well.

"I don't think so," he frowned before replying. "What about you?" he asked automatically but then his face changed into an apologetic one as he remembered that I have no one to ask about my childhood. "Sorry," he apologized immediately. "Anyway, what about it?" he quickly diverted the topic back to my question.

"I just hope the twins won't be one if you weren't one. I've read that it could devastating if the kids refused the meal. It could last days if not weeks," I simply told him.

"What? Is that possible? Isn't more like hunger strike?" his eyes widened as he processed the new information.

I shrugged, "I don't know. But I've read that it's possible. They'll just nibble the food that they like and reject the ones that they don't like. Or some would opt for milk instead of solid. And none is good for them. They need to learn eating solid and various types of food as it would guarantee complete nutrition for them."

Jackson just nodded, "And organic is always better, isn't it?" he asked and I chuckled.

"You're just into organic stuff too much, but yeah. I think it's better to get organic one if we could, especially here," I agreed with him as produce in Chinese used too much pesticide. Choosing organic for the twins would be a better option for now.

His mother shared her experience but it was years ago. She didn't dare to suggest anything as she was sure that everything has changed now. She even knew BLW method, which personally she has a lot of doubt about it, but if I chose to use the method, she wouldn't go against my decision. His sister in law also shared her experience, but again, she only has one mouth to feed and Aimee was pretty much cooperative, she said. So I hoped the twins would be like Aimee and didn't gave me additional headache. The twins were just managed to sit up straight few days ago, so I've been putting them in their high chair to familiarize them with their high chairs. I sat them in front of me and I gave them my best stern face so they knew that I was serious.

"Look guys," I eyed both faces in front of me. "You guys have to cooperate with me, okay?" I told them but Jake just gave me his grin. Another thing that resembled Jackson a lot.

"You guys have to eat whatever I cook for you, okay? No picky eating. You guys have to eat everything. At least give it a try," I quickly revised my statement as each person had their own preference, so I should respect their preference as well. Both kids in front of me just gave me their gummy smiles and giggled. Oh boy...

JACKSON

I scrunched my nose when I smell something weird but familiar coming from the kitchen. I saw the back of the high chairs around the dining table, so it must be the twins' dinner time. I walked carefully as not to disturb them as Ellie told me that their attention were easily distracted and it might make them forget whatever they were doing before. She might hang my neck if the twins stopped eating because I was coming into the dining area.

"What's the menu tonight?" I asked the nanny and she answered me with a list of ingredients that resembled chicken soup's ingredients in adult's version. I tasted the stuff and it was bland.

"Are you sure they're going to eat it?" I asked Ellie that was facing Jane, with a bowl in her hand.

She shrugged, "They can't have sugar and salt until they're one. Maybe just a little bit, but it will still taste bland for us."

I nodded as I knew nothing about baby food. Better just got along with the ladies to avoid troubles. I washed up quickly before joining them back in the dining area. I ate my dinner quickly and told the nanny to rest. I'd help feeding Jake while Ellie fed Jane. I noticed that she put several bits of food on their tray. Jake played with them, smashing them with his palm, while Jane observed them carefully before poking and smashing them. Ellie told me that it would pick the twins' curiosity and helped them to grasp the food. If we were lucky, they could feed themselves and it would be better.

I picked up the spoon in front of me and scooped a small portion of porridge and the mushy version of chicken soup. I made sure that it was cool before giving it to Jake. To my surprise, Jake grasped the spoon out of my hold.

"Do you want to eat by yourself, buddy?" I asked him to which he gave me exciting look, as if he understood whatever I was saying. I was excited as well. Could he really feed himself? I let him hold the spoon and he raised it in the air. I was waiting expectantly and gave some encouragement, demonstrating how to move the spoon closer to my mouth and then pretending to eat whatever on the spoon. He watched me carefully and for a second, he seemed to copy my move but then he jerked and it sent the food down to the tray.

"Oh, it's okay buddy," I cheered him up even though he didn't look upset that he dropped the food. "We can try again," I said as I scooped another portion and handed him the spoon. However, at that point, I thought he was more interested with the new discovery that he just found. He just learnt that if he flicked the spoon, it would send the food flying. Like a catapult. I realized that as well.

"Oh .. Oh, no buddy," I wiggled my finger in front of his face, showing that I didn't like the thought of playing with food. "You can't play with your food. You have to eat it. Not play with it. We don't waste food around here, okay?" I chastised him but apparently he didn't hear me. As the next thing happened was he flicked the spoon even harder this time, sending the food flying and made it plop on the dining table. He squealed happily and clapped his chubby hands and I groaned while I heard Ellie chuckling at my despair.

"No Jake, no...," I warned him but he didn't listen.

"Oh well, now we know from where he got that from," Ellie made a comment, teasing me.

"Haha.. Very funny," I laughed dryly before turning my attention back to Jake. "Come on buddy, no more playing with food. Let's focus now, yeah? Open up like this, aaaaaa...," I demonstrated and luckily this time he complied. We resumed the feeding peacefully after that. But it was just the beginning.

Couple weeks after they started solid, Jane started the hunger strike. She refused her meal mostly, but Ellie noticed that she preferred certain food like fish and spaghetti. She didn't like porridge anymore so Ellie gave her mushy rice and things went back for awhile. But then Jake decided to follow in his sister's step, refusing all his meals except for treats. I glared at Ellie for giving him such a trait. I found out that Jake wanted the independence so we gave him food that he could pick up by himself. Without the utensils at first. When he managed to do that, we taught him how to use the utensils and everything was fine again. It was challenging at times, but mostly it was fun. It was funny to see how the twins got our palate. They liked cheesy dishes like me, and Jake loved treats like Ellie. Ellie was curious and wanted to test whether the twins couldn't hold spicy food like me, but we have to wait until they were older. For now, it was a relief when they would eat without giving us a strike. I never knew that simple things eating would be challenging like this.

a/n: Thanks guys for the 9K reads!!! Can't believe that this story gets so much love.