Annnnddd.... three more bites it is!

Aliceson over at Feet off the Table! got me started on this game. It's that game of chicken you play with your children when you're at the dinner table. She's lucky in that her children are adventurous. We are unlucky in that ours are not. And it changes daily.

Somewhere between 2 and 3 years of age this change started happening. And it didn't happen solely with one or the other kid, this change happened at nearly the same time in their lives. The good news is that they seem to eventually start to move out of it again. My lovely Wild Child #2 would gobble down peas at 1 1/2 and 2 years, while her 4 and 5 year old brother would literally gag, and, in fact, one time he actually threw it back up, he gagged on them so hard! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, our eldest threw up food because he didn't like it and didn't want to eat it. So, do you feel bad for the puking or angry at his stubbornness? I don't know, I don't have the answer.

Thankfully, this happened only once.

Then, after many years of enjoying the peas (well, okay it was like 2 1/2, but many at that point in her short life), WC#2 decides she doesn't like them. What? You used to like them. What's wrong with them now? At that point, both were maybe eating carrots (there was a whole cooked vs. uncooked, and neither liked the same state at the same time), corn, and pasta sauce (that counts as a veggie, right?).

So, we struggled for a year with very few vegetables. Suddenly, WC#2 decides that the tops of broccoli are alright. Hunh? Where did that come from? Mind you, she still only eats the tops, and none of the stems, but heck, something green is going into her body. Don't even go near them with anything leafy. That is not going anywhere.

They will eat apples, as long as they are peeled and not brown, they will eat bananas, brown point still holds true, strawberries are both a favorite and raspberries. Now, if they have an aversion to texture more than taste (I think this is WC#1's problem with peas), why do they eat berries full of seeds? I do not get that.

And WC#2 now eats peas again, like they're going out of style. WC#1 even ate peas last night without gagging or fighting. He eats our spicy Indian chicken. Decided it would try it one night, loved it, it was a hit. What?

Still, my children can be a pain. He will only eat melted cheese, a la pizza or mac and cheese, but not grilled cheese or solid cheese. She will eat both of those, and solid cheese, but not grilled cheese. Hunh? He will eat peanut butter, but no jelly, not a drop, ever nor never near that peanut butter sandwich. He won't eat sandwich meats, like ham, turkey or beef.

She won't eat peanut butter, don't even come near her with that, but jelly is like it's going out of style. She also eats ham, but no other sandwich meat. He doesn't touch pork, except maybe sausage, but she eats all things pork: bacon, sausage, ham in all forms, pork chops, but not ham balls. She eats mandarin oranges, he won't touch it.

Oh, and the applesauce we have been eating for 4 years, suddenly, one day they both said they didn't like it. I could have killed them both. Tonight, it was all fine with the same apple sauce. Grr...

They both eat hamburgers, chips, corn (on and off the cob, but not grandma's frozen version), mac and cheese, pizza, chicken nuggets, tacos (but only at home, she won't touch school taco meat), spaghetti (again only at home, she dreads the school's spaghetti). Young Mr. WC#1 eats many more meals at school than he used to, so I am holding out hope that my little WC#2 will mature and eat more stuff.

We conjole, we beg, we negotiate, we yell, we shame. It doesn't do a lick of good. We once tried the dessert bribe. But then I read somewhere that holding dessert as a reward for eating healthy (read icky) food, made the kids think the food for dinner was icky and not fun. It suggested picking a few nights a week for dessert and having dessert whether they ate their dinner or not. That actually seems to be going well. Dessert nights at our house are Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.

Anyone care to join us?

Soooo, I am passing this picky food meme on to Heather at 2 Brits, 2 Yanks, and 2 dogs. Your turn, Heather. Let's Play 3 More Bites!