They Liked It, They Really Liked It!!!

Happy Birthday to Grandpa Pritchard today!  Days like today are when I get a little sad about being so far from my family.  I am glad I can be with all of them for the big holidays, but I miss out on the smaller things.  Today they are all getting together for dinner to celebrate my Dad's birthday and I wish I was there to join in.  It is very hard to have a big family who all lives close together and be the only one who has moved away.  I love Indiana (well except for the cold) and the people here, but I wish at least one family member lived nearby or that we were closer.  I think our lives are better here than they would be in Northern VA, but that doesn't make it any easier to miss out on so much.  I want my kids to have close relationships with their cousins, and that is hard when we are so far away.

Anyway, enough of the pity party...

I enjoy cooking.  I look forward to looking up recipes and trying out new ones.  My kids can't say that I always fed them the same thing (though at this point in their lives I am sure they would be thrilled to eat their favorites everyday).   I am constantly making something new and exposing them to different flavors, which I think in the long run is good for them.  

Some parents we have talked to say they make a separate meal for their kids and I think that is just ridiculous.  How is a kid ever going to try and like new things if he knows you will always make him something else?  Dennis and I decided we are not going to do the "clean your plate" technique either, that was popular when we were young.  I think kids should eat when they are hungry and learn to not eat when they aren't hungry.  I've read that forcing your kids to clean their plate can lead to obesity.  What we do try to encourage is for them to take one bite and try whatever is on their plate.  If they don't like what I serve then they don't eat or they eat what they do like on their plate.  They aren't going to starve, they will make up the calories on their next meal.  And as long as we give them healthy snacks, they will get their vitamins and calories.  This has pretty much been the technique all of our doctors have recommended.

Anyway, because I make a wide variety of different foods, they don't always like what I make.  But, I am hoping that over time and with repeated exposure to different foods, they will eventually like it.  As a kid growing up overseas, we were exposed to so much and all my siblings and I pretty much eat everything now (except I can't do cheesecake!).  This has worked for Colin who didn't like green beans, but after about 20 times of putting it on his plate he started to eat them.  

It is very frustrating to spend a long time making a nice home cooked meal and have the kids come up to see what it is and say, yuck!  Even Logan has somehow picked up the word "yuck"!  So, I was thrilled this week that after several times of making eggplant parmesan and only Dennis and I eating it, 2 of the kids ate it all up and loved it!  They also all liked the hoisin sauce pork sandwiches I made Tuesday and the Singapore chicken rice I made today.  I look forward to the day when a meal other than chicken nuggets, pizza or mac and cheese gets cheers, but we are getting there slowly but surely....

And if I wasn't already in a good mood after dinner, Colin asked to change Logan's diaper.  That boy LOVES babies!!