Dinner: Vegetable paella (rice cooked in veggie stock &
seasonings mixed with peas, chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, green beans, carrots &
red peppers, topped with hard boiled eggs) and baked chicken strips (no
breading- just long, skinny pieces of pre-seasoned chicken breast) and mango
juice.
Evelyn was the first to express her outrage that there were
things in her rice. “No rice! No my rice!” she cried, clearly angry that
her rice had been tampered with.
Rosemarie and I were over-ambitious with the chickpeas. I should have known better than to give them
paella chalk-full of chickpeas. I would
have set them up for success if I had only included one chickpea from the
start… live and learn.
Terrek, although sustaining a positive tone admitted that he
didn’t like this dinner. He ate his
hard-boiled eggs (no yolks) and drank his mango juice, and then he said he was
done. He didn’t touch his chicken, any
of the veggies or the rice. All three
children did not appreciate the fact that the rice and vegetables were all
mixed together. They like these things
separate!
Patrick was really tired tonight at dinner, and was lying on
my lap. He didn’t eat one bite of
anything on his plate at mealtime.
Evelyn ate her eggs, her red peppers, her green beans and
some of her rice. (After she recovered
from the shock!)
I felt discouraged and disappointed. I realized I had attempted something too
advanced for their beginning balanced eating skills. However, when it was time for last call for
food before bath time, all three came running back to the table. Terrek had spotted the pumpkin pie on the
counter, and this gave him the courage to go on!
Rosemarie and I were cleaning up the dishes while the kids
began eyeing their plates, trying to assess the best strategy. Evelyn asked for cheese. “Chee!
Chee!” I calmly took her on my lap and explained that she could have
cheese after she eats her dinner. She’s not
yet two, so reasoning with her is quite challenging- but I decided to try. I kept repeating, “you can have cheese after
you eat your dinner.” She kept running
to the fridge and crying,
“Chee! Chee!
More chee!” After pleading with
Rosemarie, she finally gave up (I was surprised!) and came to see me at the
table, where I fed her chicken, and green beans and rice (all separated out). “Oatmemeal! Oatmemeal!” she said.
“Yes, Evelyn, you
ate all your dinner, now you can have oatmeal,” wow- she actually got it. Babies are smarter than you think! She ate an entire bowl of baby oatmeal.
As I was tidying up, I heard the boys discussing their
meals. They were unaware that I was eavesdropping. “This tastes really, really bad,”
said Terrek in a matter-of-fact voice.
“Yeah,” said
Patrick, equally serious.
“It tastes like
rotten rats,” said Terrek.
“Yeah,” said
Patrick, still serious.
Terrek proceeded to pick out all his chickpeas and pile them
in a corner on his plate. He ate his chicken,
carrots, green beans, peas and rice, although he did it separately. “Now can I have pumpkin pie?” he asked
me. I realize that rule number four states
“everything on your plate before you can have dessert,” however I began to
question the chickpea situation. I made
an executive decision, making a note of being smarter next time, and I removed
all the chickpeas, but one from Terrek’s plate.
He forced himself to eat this one chickpea, knowing the promise of
pumpkin pie loomed in the future. He ate
it with such a fowl expression, that one would think he was eating ‘rotten
rats.’ He got his reward- two pieces of
pumpkin pie.
Patrick was slower to succumb. He had a fowl expression on his face and he
kept taking his one chickpea off his plate.
I would just put it back on. “If
you’re too full, it’s okay, just no dessert,” I reminded him. He didn’t say much, but his anger was brewing
on the inside. He tried to take his
anger out on his utensils by attempting to bend his fork and spoon, but he
didn’t cry and whine, which was certainly an improvement for our dinner
atmosphere! Eventually he ate his eggs and chicken. He reported that he doesn’t like carrots and
he doesn’t like green beans and he does not like chickpeas. He mushed his solitary chickpea to a pulp and
poked a hole in the plastic tablecloth with his fork. I gave him another chickpea. I remained positive with him, and gave him a
kiss. “You don’t have to eat it,” I
reminded him. But his drive to get that
pumpkin pie was strong, and he began nibbling.
I left him downstairs with his plate and Rosemarie, while I took Evleyn
and Terrek up for their baths. He ended
up eating it all, including the veggies and the single chickpea! He got his well-deserved reward! When he came up to the bathroom, where his
brother and sister were happily splashing- all signs of his dinnertime anger
had vanished. He was all smiles, and he
proudly reported eating all of his food.
He told me the pie was really yummy.
“You ate your chickpea too?” I asked in disbelief.
“Yes,” he said as
we hugged. “Mommy, I love you, you’re
beautiful.” I guess my son is pretty
forgiving- he obviously doesn’t hold a grudge! J
Plan status:
successful (minus the chickpeas)
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