Despite all of our efforts, Noah is a typical, picky toddler when it comes to eating. I know it could be far worse as there are way more than 2 things he likes and consents to eating every day and he certainly eats plenty of food. He just doesn’t eat ANY of the things that I thought all toddlers loved: scrambled eggs, cheese, lunchmeat, mac-n-cheese, pasta, etc. The mere fact that he despises cheese (in all forms) really makes me ponder, at least weekly, if he can possibly truly be related to me. I know David can’t ever question his paternal relationship with him since this kid is a “mini me” when it comes to his Daddy, but…he really looks nothing like me and come on…who hates cheese? But…I digress. Noah does love to eat fruit, yogurt, cereal bars, crackers, bread, chicken nuggets and basically any meat we put in front of him (the lil' carnivore once inhaled 6 ounces of ribeye steak in one meal….no kidding) and while he won’t touch any vegetable we give him (other than plain lettuce…I really don’t understand that one) he will eat any pureed baby food vegetable. I keep trying to reason with him and tell him that real veggies are WAY tastier than those nasty jars of pureed peas he seems to love so much, but so far he has not taken the bait. So with this list of favorite foods which includes a fairly decent variety, you’re probably wondering why I complain that he is a picky eater…it’s because I never know, from one day to the next, which of these foods he is agreeable to eating on any particular day. For example, while he LOVES nutrigrain cereal bars—if I buy a different brand and the color of the foil package they come in happens to be a different shade of red…he shakes his head No and clamps his mouth shut and won’t eat it until I force it in there and convince him the bar tastes the same. Or how he loves a PB&J sandwich but on certain days (say Tuesdays and Fridays…no I really haven’t figured out his pattern) he won’t eat the sandwich folded in half (like a real sandwich) he will only eat it in bite sized pieces served to him on a fork. Or how on some days he sees the bananas in the kitchen and goes crazy trying to ask me for one and then inhales it and then the next day I try to get him to eat a banana and he flat out refuses and gives me this evil and dumbfounded look as if to say “How could you even think about expecting me to eat such a thing…what are you thinking?” This weird thing with fruit is definitely one of his most ridiculous nuances when it comes to food. He loves fruit…however…once he finds a fruit that he loves it is as if he develops some immediate short term amnesia and the next day when I offer it to him he has completely forgotten he likes it. One day he LOVES grapes and wants them at every meal so of course the next day I will put a few grapes on his plate with lunch and he looks at them with extreme disgust. After several trials of strawberries, oranges and apple wedges, I of course the discover that today’s “fruit of choice” is blueberries. Well, duh, how could I not know that (especially since he HATED blueberries with a passion on Monday…). The next day he will turn up his nose at blueberries (again, “Mommy, what are you thinking..i hate blueberries”) and after the same song and dance I discover that today’s “fruit of choice” is watermelon and nothing but watermelon…which of course he won’t eat again for at least 6 days. Over the course of a week he eventually eats every type of fruit that we have in the house…I just wish I knew what fruit eating schedule he was on..it would save a lot of time. And if only I could figure out why in “noah land” it is considered a delicious delicacy to eat a red grape dipped in gerber pureed peas…but a completely preposterous notion to eat something actually tasty…like a piece of cheese. Go figure.
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