When my toddler was 1 3/4, no, not 21 months.... You
say "21 months" to people who don't have kids and they give a blank
stare while they try to do the math in their heads. I know, because I used to
be one of those people.
So at 1 3/4, my son was just starting to become a little
picky. And not picky like "I don't like green food" picky, picky like
he will only eat bananas one day and then he won't touch a banana the next day,
and then that night he'll eat a banana again.
So, this leads the child's personal in-house chefs (mom and
dad) to come up with some pretty creative concoctions. I might try to continue
these for years to come!
One that I like a lot is carried over from the days of
making baby food from scratch. One of the foods I made was kale- cooked down
with some water, pureed in the food processor, and put into ice cube trays to
freeze for later. Now, when we need to make a fast meal for him, we'll either
heat up a little rice or pasta and add 2 cubes of kale and some butter and he
loves it!
He also loves green beans and cheese, so we have done the
"layering" method of serving food. For example, we'll take chopped
chicken and rice, heat it up and serve it to him. He takes a bite and doesn't
want any more. So we'll add a little green beans. He'll pick out the green
beans and not eat anymore. So we'll shred some cheese on top. If that doesn't
work, maybe a little pear sauce. Peanut butter. More
green beans. Eventually, it either gets eaten or it ends up on the floor for
the dog to enjoy. Then we'll try a bite and go "hey, this isn't bad!"
Cold pork chops! I never would have guessed these would be
tasty, but we usually make 3 Iowa Chops and then have leftovers to serve the
little boy. While waiting for me to heat up some rice and chopped chops, I
started slicing them really thin and letting him eat the cold slices. He loved
it. I tried it. Yum! Maybe it was the way we seasoned it, but it was good
enough to eat cold, both in thin slices and cubed up and in salad.
We always have yogurt in the fridge too. Adding yogurt to just about anything helps him eat it. And this is the good stuff: Vanilla whole milk organic yogurt. I think it tastes like frosting.
Another fast stand-by for a starving child (if he isn't in
his high chair eating at 5:30 sharp, watch out!) is a can of green beans, cold.
Yup, he'll eat that by the handful. The down side with the canned stuff is the
extra sodium, but it's better than snacking on salty junk food packaged for
kids.
He does plenty of that, too- his favorite right now is the Annies' whole
wheat bunnies, which don't mention anything about having cheese in them, but
they taste like goldfish, which makes you look at the label and see that they
have cheddar cheese. I'm not complaining, but why wouldn't they be called
cheesey whole grain crackers?! Anyway, the organic-aisle-at-Hy Vee shopper in
me feels they are a better option that Goldfish. Plus, I like them and I don't
like Goldfish. But that's not the reason I buy them. I'm trying to get healthy
food in my boy!
Until he realizes that I think I've figured out what he likes. Then he quickly changes his mind.
Maybe the secret is to pretend like you don't know he likes it.
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