Food Wars

Tonight I probably did something I shouldn't have done. I punished Vincente for not eating his dinner. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. He didn't want to eat what we were having for dinner (I think probably because he was more tired than hungry, since he didn't have his usual nap). But he has been developing this habit lately of crying when its dinner time, and then getting to eat something else later. Mostly because I forget that he didn't eat dinner, and when he wants a snack, I usually happily oblige.

Here's the problem - I am gone all day, so I don't really know how much he eats, or what he eats, or when he eats, and I have really no control in the matter, anyway. In theory, I could say "Only feed Vincente these foods, at these times of the day, etc" but that would just make extra headaches for my MIL, who is gracious enough to watch him all day anyway. I'm just getting frustrated with Vincente's eating habits, because he's learning that he can get whatever he wants. And it's not my fault. I don't give him whatever he wants.

Two more weeks, and then we're done. Then it's me all the time and I get to tell him what to eat and when to eat it. Two more weeks and then we will live in a place that doesn't EVER have sugared cereal (one of Vincente's favorite things to eat... and not because I buy it. I NEVER buy ANY cereal with extra sugar. The most sugary cereal he eats (that I buy) is Multi Grain Cheerios...).

The problem with having unhealthy food in a house with a toddler is that toddlers don't know how to make good food choices. They are still learning. So that means ALL the food in your house has to be healthy, so your child has "restricted" choices - meaning... they can choose the healthy thing, or they can choose the healthy thing. Unfortunately, as soon as they know there are sweet goodies, they will never stop asking for them. Telling them there is none of ____ (fill in the blank) or it's all gone only works if no one else is eating it. But in the house we currently live in, since we don't have our own kitchen/dining area, he always see the "big boys" eating sugary cereal, or pancakes doused in syrup, or cookies, or hot chocolate, etc etc. So what does he want? Exactly what they have. And there's no way to tell him no. He doesn't understand why they get sugary food, and he doesn't.

I'm just really anxious to be in my own house again where we only buy whole grain bread with 3 grams of fiber per slice, and we only cook whole wheat pancakes, and we eat eggs and whole wheat toast for breakfast (except maybe on Sunday mornings, when we have Cheerios or granola for breakfast). Where we eat steamed vegetables instead of swimming in butter vegetables. Where we don't drink soda... EVER except maybe on birthdays and the Fourth of July. Where we don't have candy all the time. Where we don't eat marshmallows for a snack.

If Vincente's only options are healthy options, then he will have no choice but to eat healthy. I just get sick to my stomach when I come home from school to hear that he had a baggie of Lucky Charms for a snack that day, instead of HFCS-free graham crackers and HFCS-free yogurt (which he occaisionally enjoys). I just want my kids to eat healthy. I am not overboard about it - I mean, I'm not even all organic. There are a few things I try to avoid, and a few things that I try to moderate, but overall, I just like choosing the healthy option. And I want that to be what my kids see and desire. Seriously, we still eat ice cream and stuff. But if you're going to have something nutritious, it should be nutritious, you know?

Okay, I think I'm done with my rant.

I still really have no clue what to do with Vince and his eating habits, but I'm sure it will all work itself out.

Oh yeah, I even made him homemade chicken nuggets yesterday for dinner because he LOVES chicken nuggets (he's always asking for them). I just took some frozen chicken breast and cut it up into bite size chunks, dipped them in an egg/milk mixture and rolled them in a breading I made out of unseasoned bread crumbs and a little flour (with some seasoned salt and pepper). Then I sprayed them with a light coat of non-stick cooking spray (so they would feel fried without really being friend). I would have used olive oil spray, but I didn't have any. They turned out GREAT. I accidently put too much salt on them when I was salting the french fries, which were cooking in the same pan. Anyway, I made enough that I froze a few so I can just pop them in the oven for dinner another night! Next time I'll use whole wheat flour with my bread crumbs. It was amazing to me how easy it was to make these. And of course, the chicken was all white meat, and they were only lightly breaded (a lot less bread than commercial chicken nuggets).

Oh yeah, one more thing with Vincente's eating stuff - he did want to eat cheese, so I put a bunch of cheese on what we'd had for dinner, thinking maybe he would eat it with cheese on it (usually it works) but he just picked off the cheese, so I know he would eat something... he was just being picky about what it was.

If I make it through these next few weeks, I will definitely deserve a medal or trophy or something.