Jack - notsomuch.
Jack is one of the pickiest eaters I know. And unfortunately, we've enabled this behavior from a very young age, and now he'd eat buttered noodles every night if we let him. After many discussions with his doctor, I tried to just offer him veggies and not make him eat them in the hopes that one time on his own he'd give it a go and discover that he loves fruits and veggies. No such luck. He wasn't at all curious in the least. Nothing from my bag of tricks worked...not even Sam I am.
"Try it, try it, and you may. Try it and you may I say," was responded to with a polite, "no, thank you."
So, in all honesty, for the last couple of years, he's taken a vitamin every night and then avoided vegetables like the plague. He does drink lots of orange juice and he likes some fresh fruit (bananas, strawberries, and blueberries), but that's about it.
Well, the tides are changing. We finally decided that we just need to be a little more firm and make this veggie thing happen. Seriously this time. We've tried a few times in the past, but once we're met with gagging and tears, we give up. We're softies - correction: I am a softy, and I cave.
Now we give Jack a little of everything we're having for dinner, and he has to take at least one bite of everything. If he doesn't, then he doesn't get a snack after dinner.
It started with a little trickery on our part. I have a picture of his cousin Owen chowing down on some corn on the cob. Jack loves Owen, so when I showed him the picture, I was not at all surprised that he would want to be just like Owen and give this whole corn thing one more try. We were met with success:)
Last night, we had McDonald's and I made Jack's plate up and included the apples that now come with a Happy Meal. Usually, we end up eating them and not even offering them to Jack because we know how much he'll protest. But just matter-of-fact, I set them out and expected him to eat them. After he was finished with dinner, he got up to go watch one of his shows, and wouldn't you know it?
That little stinker came back into the room, grabbed the rest of the apples, and said, "I'm just going to take these in the other room in case I decide I want some more."
We said nothing. Just watched in awe and attempted to pick our jaws up off of the kitchen table. HE ATE THEM ALL. THE WHOLE BAG.
And tonight? Tonight we had kielbasa, beans, and corn. He does really like kielbasa {and wouldn't you know it? So does his sister:)}. He gave everything a try. Only one bite of corn and beans, but still, it's better than nothing.
We are making great strides. And I am so proud.
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