from Ben's mom
...someone else cooks it. That's what my mom always said. And I find it to be true. Now, Ben has caught on. Unfortunately, we have discovered that Ben will try nearly anything at a restaurant. At home, no way.
I was stunned the other day when we were in the grocery store and as I drove the little car cart past the deli, the lady saw Ben and said, "Oh, he's so cute. May I give him some fruit?" I was thinking, "Sure, lady, he won't eat fruit, but go for it," but said something like, "Yes, that would be fine." He devoured it: canteloupe, watermelon, grape. Won't touch the same stuff at home.
I've been trying to get Ben to try dried apricots which I snack on while pregnant. Not on your life. But he loves Stretch Island fruit leathers. So it must be an appearance thing.
As we've brought his food allergies down to a reasonable and liveable level, I have started dealing with his pickiness differently. He gets what we have in very small quantities and he eats what he eats. I've noticed that the more I do this, the more he will try a little bit more. Eventually. Sometimes it is the third time I've put something on his plate and suddenly he decides it is worth a shot. Meanwhile, I've quit worrying so much as I recently read that America overfeeds its toddlers and doesn't understand that a baby needs a lot more food than a toddler. The article also pointed out that babies eat because they are hungry and already a toddler is starting to deal with the phenomenon of eating because something "looks good" with no hunger basis. I don't want to encourage overeating and so if it doesn't look good, Ben must not be that hungry and therefore, I don't need to stress about it.
It seems my whole life centers around food sometimes. I am either looking for it, planning for it, making it, eating it, trying to keep from eating it, cleaning up after it, or obsessing about my son and husband's eating habits. I can hardly wait until my kids are old enough to take on some of this responsibility and I can sit back and eat what they've cooked. But that will be awhile....
2 comments:
You forget, I gave him his first stretch island fruit leather... I think it was grape. Btw... we're out. When you come next, care to play carrier for a box or two? :)
It's not necessarily the appearance of the item, it's the packaging. He loves things in packages (like the snack bars that we give him). Now if you told him they were healthy, or took it out of the package and cut it up on his plate, I doubt he'd want it. But he eats it in the package, and if we don't push it up soon enough, he about eats the packaging... At least, it's good for him.
Ben's Grammy
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