Ah the food issue. Mommies have all had it: my kid won't eat this, my kid will only eat that, my kid ate this religiously and now won't touch it.... I can safely say that, in short, food is a struggle for all of us at one point or another.
When MLO started on solid food there was little he didn't like. Those few things were easily avoidable and nutritional equivalents were readily available and appreciated by him. Somewhere around 12 months he started to get weird on me. He would turn his nose up at our tried and true routine of scrambled eggs with cheese, broccoli, and a touch of garlic powder for breakfast. WTF pal? All of a sudden I had to get creative. How do I pack the same amount of nutritional bang into an MLO sized meal? I started to branch out: french toast made with maple syrup instead of sugar, no syrup on the toast with a banana or oatmeal with honey and whole milk and a serving of veggies and hummus at lunch or dinner. I cut scrambled eggs out all together and started to offer more meats and cheeses. I discovered he loved goat cheese and that aside from 'outside' the only other discernible word he uttered was 'hummus'.
As I was struggling with the need to explore food choices for MLO I kept asking myself, "What changed?" One day it dawned on me, the kid was bored. Can you imagine eating the same things at the same time of day for 3 or more months straight? In hind-site, I would have been concerned if he hadn't started to turn his nose up at our "tried and true" routine. As time went on, I started to mix things up as a matter of course. I tried hard to move those staples around so they didn't happen in the same way at the same time. I began to bake bread and muffins that I knew could pack a punch for the whole grains they contained. As our trip to Montana grew closer I began to fret over how I would meet his needs over 8 days and 7 nights of road trip and camping. The cooler and the fridge in our tiny trailer weren't long term storage situations that I trusted, and I knew that at least one meal of the day would happen in the car. Fortunately, I stumbled on Go Go Applesauce, an individually wrapped packet of organic applesauce. I packed string cheese and a plethora of crackers, my favorite for MLO being the Trader Joe's Multigrain crackers for their relatively low sodium, delicious flavor, practically choke-safe texture and Peanut-free-ness. What I didn't plan for was the emotional and temporal need for fast food; on that trip MLO was introduced to his first McDonald's hamburger and fries, and Jack in the Box breakfast bowl, and I don't feel a bit guilty about it. MLO ate Daddy's grilled burgers for dinner and enjoyed many a breakfast of cheerios and banana as we rolled out of the campsite.
Since arriving in our destination MLO has discovered fresh trout (shish- for fish), raw spinach slathered in ranch dressing, raw green beans and plain raisins. He loves wheat toast with butter at breakfast and snacks of yogurt with cinnamon, cheerios and applesauce. Oatmeal with whole milk, a touch of honey and raisins or fresh fruit is a welcome way to beat the morning chill. Much to my shame, he has a derth of experience when it comes to feeding himself with utensils. He has such a propensity for making a mess that I shy away from giving him the spoon when he has yogurt and I never thought to hand over the fork except with food already on it. I have resolved to overcome my fear of mess and give him cheerios in a bowl with a spoon (I'm starting slow... don't judge me!) and green beans on his high chair tray with a fork at his disposal. The dogs are going to love it.
When MLO started on solid food there was little he didn't like. Those few things were easily avoidable and nutritional equivalents were readily available and appreciated by him. Somewhere around 12 months he started to get weird on me. He would turn his nose up at our tried and true routine of scrambled eggs with cheese, broccoli, and a touch of garlic powder for breakfast. WTF pal? All of a sudden I had to get creative. How do I pack the same amount of nutritional bang into an MLO sized meal? I started to branch out: french toast made with maple syrup instead of sugar, no syrup on the toast with a banana or oatmeal with honey and whole milk and a serving of veggies and hummus at lunch or dinner. I cut scrambled eggs out all together and started to offer more meats and cheeses. I discovered he loved goat cheese and that aside from 'outside' the only other discernible word he uttered was 'hummus'.
As I was struggling with the need to explore food choices for MLO I kept asking myself, "What changed?" One day it dawned on me, the kid was bored. Can you imagine eating the same things at the same time of day for 3 or more months straight? In hind-site, I would have been concerned if he hadn't started to turn his nose up at our "tried and true" routine. As time went on, I started to mix things up as a matter of course. I tried hard to move those staples around so they didn't happen in the same way at the same time. I began to bake bread and muffins that I knew could pack a punch for the whole grains they contained. As our trip to Montana grew closer I began to fret over how I would meet his needs over 8 days and 7 nights of road trip and camping. The cooler and the fridge in our tiny trailer weren't long term storage situations that I trusted, and I knew that at least one meal of the day would happen in the car. Fortunately, I stumbled on Go Go Applesauce, an individually wrapped packet of organic applesauce. I packed string cheese and a plethora of crackers, my favorite for MLO being the Trader Joe's Multigrain crackers for their relatively low sodium, delicious flavor, practically choke-safe texture and Peanut-free-ness. What I didn't plan for was the emotional and temporal need for fast food; on that trip MLO was introduced to his first McDonald's hamburger and fries, and Jack in the Box breakfast bowl, and I don't feel a bit guilty about it. MLO ate Daddy's grilled burgers for dinner and enjoyed many a breakfast of cheerios and banana as we rolled out of the campsite.
Since arriving in our destination MLO has discovered fresh trout (shish- for fish), raw spinach slathered in ranch dressing, raw green beans and plain raisins. He loves wheat toast with butter at breakfast and snacks of yogurt with cinnamon, cheerios and applesauce. Oatmeal with whole milk, a touch of honey and raisins or fresh fruit is a welcome way to beat the morning chill. Much to my shame, he has a derth of experience when it comes to feeding himself with utensils. He has such a propensity for making a mess that I shy away from giving him the spoon when he has yogurt and I never thought to hand over the fork except with food already on it. I have resolved to overcome my fear of mess and give him cheerios in a bowl with a spoon (I'm starting slow... don't judge me!) and green beans on his high chair tray with a fork at his disposal. The dogs are going to love it.
