food wars, part 1

...i needed that other angle to catch the bow that henry had picked out for merian to wear.

casey & i were way impressed with the strength of our son's will today. maybe impressed isn't the word i'm looking for. whatever. we've been having more frequent rounds of finicky eating at the supper table these days. (staci, i hear your pain!) it could possibly be correlated with the fact that i've been experimenting with some new recipes. (and yes, they are yummy ones!) last night henry hopped up to the table to look at his toddler-sized portion of ravioli and declared, "i will NOT eat that." awhile later, he had eaten a smidgeon. but not all. (as is policy in the getz household.) the sweet boy ended up going to bed without eating his meal...knowing (as we had previously warned) that he would have to eat it for breakfast the next day. this has happened once before. each time i half expect him to wake us up in the middle of the night, pleading for any scrap of food to stop his hunger. but no, not with henry.

the morning dawned and everything seemed normal-- henry came downstairs to crawl into bed with us, chattering away. we all went into the kitchen & he hopped up into his chair...ready to eat breakfast. casey set his ravioli from the night before in front of him, and his entire demeanor changed as he set his jaw & said again, "i will not eat it." wow. that's some resolve. no breakfast, either.

the morning continued. we went to berlin & toured a bunch of homes. a few times henry did ask for a snack or gum. i always would respond with, "honey, i'd love to give you that! just please...eat the ravioli (yep, we had boxed it up & brought it along) and i'll give it to you when you're done." the immediate reply: "i will not eat it."

at the end of the morning, we were sitting on a curb in berlin, enjoying a parade. henry was enjoying it, but wasn't his usual self. it was the first parade ever that i wasn't having to try to keep my kid from bouncing out into the road. in fact, by the end of the parade he was leaning against me...kinda sleepy. casey even ended up carrying him back to the van. weird. guess that blood sugar was getting pretty low. but when asked if he would eat his ravioli, did he relent? never.

as we were pulling in to mcdonald's for lunch, i finally made the ultimate case....because i couldn't stand watching my son slip into a hypoglycemic stupor. i reminded henry of all of the wonderful food mcd's has to offer & asked him what he would like to order. he perked up and stated, "chicken nuggets. a cheeseburger. and chicken." (no doubt he could have eaten all of that & more.) so i went on to assure him that he could order whatever he liked if he would eat his ravioli. and before he could even attempt to refuse once more, i went on to tantalize him with how great the mcd's food would taste...and literally spoonfed all of the ravioli to him. (normally spoonfeeding is not something we do with picky 3-yr olds...but he was so hungry and weak i figured i could justify it this once. :) phew. another battle over.

yes, henry did go on to eat quite a lot. first time he ever polished off an entire happy meal. guess the mighty kids meal is the one to order when your kid has skipped the previous 2 meals. in fact, i think he pretty much consistently snacked from lunch all the way to supper.

(i labeled this "part 1" because i'm positive that the strength of my son's will means this will not be the last time we have this battle. but hopefully it's the last one for awhile.)

we picked out some pumpkins yesterday & caught this shot. *sigh* these two make my heart smile.