Food wars: Episode 7 The Mom-pire strikes back

A long time ago...in a high chair not so very far away....there was a brave Baby knight who was enticed by the dark side once again. It had been many months since he had fought with food...but it had soon got the best of him. The anger deep within rose up, and he started, once again, to use his Baby mind tricks against his sweet and loving mother to get the sweet foods he so craved. Peas flew, tears flowed, the screams were piercing....yet....the Mom-pire pushed through....her rebel forces refusing to give up....and today saw a little success for her efforts.

Nobody correct my Star Wars factoids or lack there of.

But that's right peeps, the food wars have begun again. Last time it was around Christmas...and for the past 2 months it has been nothing but dinner bliss. Breakfast is always wonderful...lunch is usually ok....and dinner is really the only problem. But the past week....he's pretty much been eating his breakfast and crying and cranky at every other meal...including snacks. UGH...I hate it! I feel like such the inadequate parent when he goes to bed hungry. Cuz I KNOW he's hungry...because when he's crying he's pointing to the Cheerios or the Graham cracker box.....and I'm sorry if I don't feel like those thing nutritionally replace my wonderful chicken or homemade mac and cheese.

ANYWAY....lunchtime today was yet another wah wah wah fest. I made him a FABULOUS ham and cheese sandwich and he erupted into tears. Even when I put the grapes on his plate he pushed them away. It's hard...but I ignored it. I spent all last night researching how to get the children to eat....and many of them say to not make a big deal out of it because that's what they are trying to do...to illicit some reaction from you. And trust me when I say I don't give in. It stresses me out and I toss and turn at night and even thought I was going into labor this morning (it was just some gas...TMI? Sorry), but if he doesn't eat what I give him....he doesn't eat.

So I tried a couple of the tricks I read like ignoring him, changing plates, cutting it a little different.....all those things. I even made myself a sandwich so we could eat together and he could see that I was eating the same thing. But! None of them worked. You know what finally hit the spot? Seriously....I think it's weird. I let HIM feed ME. Yeah. I asked for a bite of his sandwich and had him feed it to me, made a huge deal about how yummy it was. I did this a couple times...then lifted the other half of his snadwich to HIS mouth and said "Mommy take a bite, you take a bite." He opened a little.....but his mouth opened. He thought it was so funny, and every bite after that his mouth opened wider and wider. I made a huge deal about rubbing my belly and chewing very loudly that he kept wanting to give me more....which....in turn....he kept taking more. Then he gobbled up all his grapes and drank his water and was a happy little kid.

Victory!!! The Mom-pire has prevailed with her own mind tricks!! I felt so accomplished, even though I had to act like the big idiot to achieve what I wanted. But really....when all else fails...act silly and I think the kids feel so bad for you and do what you want. He only ate half his sandwich.....but I'm happy with that because it was SOMETHING. I'm making some mini burgers tonight (with carrots shaved into the meat) and we'll try the same tricks. No more begging, no more fighting....we'll just make a big clown act out of Mom until the food wars pass and the house can be at peace once again.

So may the farce be with you (har har! like that reference too?)