Eat!

Vivi's favorite word other than "puppy" is "eat." She follows well in her brother's footsteps. I have always been diligent in making sure my kids eat well. I feel like as a parent it is a huge gift you can give your kids to start them off on the right foot-being that eating is something they will do multiple times a day for the rest of their life!

I have wondered how the path to whole grain baby cereal and fruit for breakfast turns into poptarts and Lucky Charms. It does not seem like a natural progression. I have talked to many moms of toddlers and preschoolers who say "my kid doesn't eat toast, or eggs, or oatmeal. He would gag if I served that." Makes me wonder what they do eat, and how did you get there?

I have taken some slack for being a bit of a food Nazi with the kids, but lately I have begun to notice it paying off. First of all both my kids will eat plain yogurt and cottage cheese. Two things Billy and I wouldn't touch if you paid us. Isaac eats tuna fish sandwiches as quickly as PB & J. Vivi LOVES raw tomatoes and mushrooms...again two things that make Billy and I gag.

But best of all has been a few little victories I have had with Isaac in the past couple days. Now...let me start with, this child loves candy and chocolate. He begs for chocolate milk and we do let him have these treats occasionally. He scoffs if I put any green vegetable on his plate asking "do I have to eat that?" Of course he does, but he still has to ask every time. Well the first little mommy victory happened when he asked for a snack after nap and I handed him a small ramekin filled with baby carrots. He said "I don't like these." and I said "that's okay, but that is your snack today if you get hungry." "I need dip." he countered. So I poured some light italian dressing in one corner of the bowl and left the room. He came to me a few minutes later saying he needed more, I thought he meant dip-thinking surely he just used the carrots as a way to lick the dip, but when I looked in his bowl the carrots were gone! He had a huge grin on his face so I praised him, filled the bowl again and off he went happily munching. That made my day!

Then last night I took the kids to Wendy's while Billy was at guitar. I ordered Isaac chicken nuggets, mandarin oranges and milk. Vivi had a grilled chicken wrap and I had salad and a potato. Isaac ate one nugget and asked me what Vivi was having. When I told him, he wanted some so I cut it in half and handed it over. He scarfed it and said, "Mom can you get me that next time?" Yeah!! I did a mini victory dance. Then he began to eye my salad and wanted some of that! He ate half of that, finished off his nuggets and milk and I rolled his round belly out the door. This morning at 6:20, no less (don't get me started on our sleep schedule around here!) they both ate a bowl of oatmeal with raspberries and yogurt mixed in.The only downside of all this is that my grocery bill is out the roof! Fresh produce and unprocesed meat is not cheap and wheat products are supposed to be going UP in price with gasoline! Great. But I think we must be keeping Cascadian Farm in business because they keep coming out with great products.

And another proud moment came when the Dr. Sears website contacted me to inquire about how I have been liking their products and I wrote them an email telling them about how Isaac has been on their Little Champions mulitvitamins and Omega-3 tabs since he was 2 and has only missed one day of preschool for being sick all year, an ear infection on Christmas Eve-of all times! They emailed back and wanted me to record my email on a voicemail of there's and they will send me a free product of my choice. Yeah, Dr Sears!

Parents magazine's June issue has a four page spread on The Healthy Kitchen. http://www.parents.com/recipes/nutrition/kids/best-foods-to-stock/

And I recently bought this highly talked about cookbook with a giftcard at Barnes and Noble: Do not let the fact that you have to make veggie purees for each recipe throw you off. I did these for about 9 months when I made Vivi's baby food and it really is not that hard to do. So even though my child is getting to the age where his peers are consuming toaster strudels and sugar cereals, Capri Suns and potato chips, I plan to press forward even if I end up having to sneak the vegetables in!