Thanks for your encouraging e-mails and comments- really, they go a long way in helping me retain my sanity through all this change! Joe and I will be spending the next few weeks setting up fixtures and doing umpteen things to ready the space before we move the yarn in. And while all the restoration and change is exciting, the most memorable thing about the past two weeks is James.
What's so memorable? James has decided to eat. Not just eat the typically James-type-food that he's been enjoying since he was a year old, but what's put on his plate. And it's made me feel like I've won some sort of mothering award. Like my constant mantra of "kind and firm" has paid off and now I have nearly-four-year-old boy, who for the time being will eat the meal I cook just like everyone else at the table.
James typically eats something I'd compare to a bento box lunch. Little piles of things that don't touch and aren't mixed together. Strawberries, hummus, crackers, avacado, carrots, cottage cheese, applesauce, peanut butter, apples... you get the idea. He has chosen a somewhat vegetarian diet, which is fine with us, though Joe and I eat meat. And while sometimes he will mix his foods himself, for instance dipping apples into his peanut butter, he won't eat something that someone else mixed together. Which is why I knew things had changed on Monday night when he ate the chicken noodles I made- thick amish noodles in a creamy reduced chicken broth with carrots, over mashed potatos. Clearly a dish for a Hoosier who isn't affraid of carbs!
Parenting really is about accepting change, isn't it? I'm just so proud of this change in James and I know it took a lot of patience on Joe's and my part. Trying to force a toddler to eat certain things certainly doesn't work- at least not for James. For so long we've been patiently offering him new foods along with his typical ones, and now finally he's on board. We all win this one!
Good job, Mom!
Posted by: Abby | June 28, 2011 at 11:21 AM
You ARE the mothering champion of the world! As long as he's not filling up on trash, he'll get all his nutrients without meat.
Since he's 4, he'll be staring kindergarten soon, and there is a book you may hind helpful or packing his lunches. It's called "The Vegan Lunchbox," by Jennifer McCann. Even though the recipes are vegan, not vegetarian, the ideas for what to pack may come in handy.
I bought his book for my own son when he was still in school, and it didn't help in the least because he opted to never take a lunch AT ALL! LOL It should come in useful for our 3 year old, though.
Some other cookbooks you may want to try just for kicks are Yellow Rose Recipes by Joanna Vaught. This one may be difficult to locate but it's got super easy, super grocery store friendly recipes in it, that are really good. I swear by this book.
The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein is another one. Lots of pasta dishes, and most kids will eat pasta when they won't eat anything else.
If you really enjoy cooking and doing things yourself, like making your own sauces, you may want to try Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. She's also got a vegan brunch book with GREAT recipes.
I'm only mentioning vegan books because that's all I've got! hahaha I'm not trying to convert your family, I'm just throwing places to get good tasting recipes, should you ever need them for whatever reason.
You're right, trying to force a toddler to do things doesn't work a good chunk of the time. We're still letting our 3 year old go poopies in Pull Ups because she REFUSES to use the toilet for that. She'll hang onto that muck for a WEEK (no exaggeration, she's done it) if she has to just to keep from using a potty chair for the "big jobs". So, fine, I give up, for the time being she can use a dang Pull Ups. LOL
I'm loving your pictures of the shop. So exciting! I'm really happy for you, and can't wait to see the finished space!
Posted by: Gina Guillotine | June 28, 2011 at 12:23 PM
You've discovered the secret to getting little kids to eat a variety of foods - just offer them & don't make a fuss. The only rule we had in our house was that, if I made it for dinner, everyone had to put some on their plate. Didn't have to eat it but it had to be on their plate. Well, seems that a toddler's natural curiosity will win out eventually & they'll try everything on their plate sooner or later. The trick is to not make a big deal about it. My girls ate almost everything eventually. Sometimes they'd just look at it on their plate the first 5 or 6 or more times I made it (I did make a point of always making sure there was at least one thing I knew they'd eat at each meal) but after awhile they'd decide that, if the rest of us were liking it, they might too & they'd try it. I remember one time when the younger girl went to our local food coop to buy produce & she was picking out the alfalfa sprouts & complaining that she liked the dark green ones but that at school she always ended up getting the pale ones. A nearby customer, observing us, was flabbergasted - first of all how did I have a child (she was about 4 at the time) who was so crazy about veggies, including sprouts? And what school did she go to that offered alfalfa sprouts to toddlers? Can't wait until your shop is open & we can come for a visit!
Posted by: Donna | June 28, 2011 at 05:25 PM
We instituted something called "courtesy bite" You didn't have to eat the whole thing, but you did have to take one bite to be polite..... :) Did work!
Posted by: April | June 30, 2011 at 04:42 PM
Ha the pleasure of mothering. I have a 24 year old daughter who still eats her meals and nothing has to be touching or mixed together :-P
Posted by: Lise | July 01, 2011 at 03:36 PM
I still have food issues...and I am 57!! Cannot eat anything soggy, cottage cheese, ketchup, pickles, fatty any thing, you get the picture. Forced to eat this when I was little. You choose your battles and if eating is not a war; you and he win!
Posted by: Anne | July 05, 2011 at 07:08 PM
Maybe you can give me tips.....my almost 11 year old grandson still only eats from A very small list! James is such A beautiful little boy!Good job1
Posted by: Elizabeth | July 05, 2011 at 08:18 PM