James is a little more into trying different foods lately. He doesn't eat a lot- I know some kids do, but as a former picky eater with a relatively long memory, I can accept this- and I have learned to get used to him not always being ready to eat when we think it is lunchtime, or whatever. Its amazing how huge issues like eating become when you start to raise kids. First it was (for us) trouble getting him to breastfeed and then trouble making sure he ate enough (every two hours for the first six months; I think thats enough). Then you have to reach these milestones of branching out into a wide diversity of foods and self-feeding and the friggin sippy cup and days of eating five bananas and occassionally throwing food as far as you can across the room. Ok, so those aren't
all exactly milestones. What we have found is that in addition to all the other relatively rapid changes in development that happen in these first two years, you also have to keep an eye out for changes in eating habits. Memories of my own eating issues (not really issues but some clear early memories of struggling hopelessly over liver, raw tomatoes and certain veggies like lima beans; albeit at an embarrasingly more advanced age than J) have given me this insane desire to make James a perfectly balanced and satisfied eater. Well that all faded pretty rapidly. He eats fine actually, for the stage he is in. There are the occassional all banana days where I worry he is going to have some strange potassium imbalance, but for the most part he is willing to try anything we are eating. Which really makes you take a second look at your own diet! Thats for another post I am still working on.
Recently, James has snubbed his normal yoghurt/fruit/peanut butter and jelly sandwich diet, and we have done our best to see what will fit into his new, matured, palate- this week he has tried burritos, quesadillas, and sushi; the first two with some measure of success.
Katharine loves sushi, and to make up for me going to get excellent sushi without her in Northampton recently, I decided to try my hand when I got back. We used smoked instead of raw fish- the results were decent; the hardest things were the inside out rolls:
James had a great time stabbing them with the fork; some actually got in his mouth:
James has also taken to dressing up in my clothes:
Almost through the 1st trimester, Katharine's preferences have also taken a more fickle tack, tonight she was only satisfied with- ramen noodles and cream soda.
If you are able, please send grits...
6 comments:
Do you want instant or regular grits?
I agree with Mary. I have read in more than one parenting book/magazine/online column that it is the parent's job to set out healthy choices, and the child's to decide what and how much to eat. Another gauge is to look at what they consume over a few day's time, you will find that they do have sufficient variety.
I have my own painful memories of the bowl full of salad that grew bigger and bigger as dinner progressed. Finally it would be me at the table with the salad, and Mom doing the dishes. By that time she was so tired of watching me agonize over it that it ended up in the disposal. To this day I still can't stomach the Good Season's dressing made in the cruet....
Steph- if you are so generous as to consider it- instant.
Mary- I still have to work on the sticky rice mixture, rolling success is all in the consistency of the rice.
Dor- maybe the salad struggle built up our strong personalities? There had to be something more to it. I think with all 'few things I didn't like' we did get a pretty wide variety of things for back in the day...
Mike, I agree. I mean, how many other kids our age got to have "meatless mousakka"? That had to be my all time unfavorite dish, I always sat next to Tom and put mine on his plate...what a deal I had going!
Don't forget salmon loaf- with those little crunchy spine bones!
Do you want flavoured or regular instant grits? I think they were on special at Publix - 2 for 1. We lean towards the cheese flavors over here.
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