Aidan does not get a lot of variety in his diet. Part of the reason is that he is super picky, and has a list of five foods he’ll eat with gusto. Part of the reason is that I’m not a creative cook at all, and when I’m hungry, I’m HUNGRY, so waiting forever for a meal is not an option. It has to be quick and easy. So last night, I made creamy chicken rice (Aidan thinks rice is short noodles LOL), peas, tator tots, and chicken nuggets. As soon as Aidan saw his plate, he began the whining: I DON’T LIKE PEAS. (I know that this is a full out lie. He eats peas all the time for my mom with full gusto). So, I made a deal. I said to him “If you eat ONE pea, you can have root beer.” Thus the bargaining began.
Ronni: One little pea. And you can have root beer.
Aidan: No, I eat one CHICKEN! Then I have root beer.
Ronni: No, one pea.
Aidan: No, I eat one tator tot, then I have root beer.
Ronni: No, one PEA. Just one little pea.
Aidan: I DON’T LIKE PEAS!
Ronni: They’re sweet. Just try one pea. And you can have root beer.
Aidan: One noodles.
Ronni: One little pea.
At this point, I got up, went to his side of the table, and put a pea on the fork. Aidan started to freak out, but then I calmly repeated my offer:
Ronni: All you have to do is eat one pea, and you can have some root beer.
Aidan: One pea?
Ronni: Just one.
Aidan ate the pea. I gave him a little bit of root beer. He asked for more, and I told him not until he ate more peas. Then I told him the more peas he ate, the more root beer he could have. He then ate several fork fulls of peas. A few tator tots. One chicken nugget, and a few forkfuls of rice/noodles. I felt good. 🙂 He didn’t finish his plate by a long shot, but I got some veggies in the boy (and myself, for that matter).
He got hungry around 9:30pm and ate two packets of oatmeal. He’ll always love his staples.