Why lying is sometimes a good thing...

For those of you who know Al, you know that he is a rather picky eater.  I'll be honest - I wasn't prepared for this.  I mean, where does this come from?  As you know, my side of the family thoroughly loves to eat and the Holland side, while not AS into food as my side is, they still enjoy it and Josh still grew up with the "just try it - if you don't like it you don't have to eat it, but you must try" rule that I did. 

So, where did we go wrong with Alex?  Avery pretty much ate anything and everything from the day that she started on solids and we still have no problem with her eating habits. In fact, just the other night, she ate nearly all of Josh's parent's scallops and then had some filet and then some duck.  Really???  Alex?  Well, Alex stuck with his chicken fingers...which, brings me to a confession....he has had WAY too many chicken nuggets in his lifetime.  But, here is the thing - and, not that this is an excuse, but we're really freaking busy and sometimes (far too often), dinner just needs to consist of whatever is easiest.  And, by "easiest," I mean, 1) quick and 2) something that will not lead to a meltdown because, really, that is not what any of us needs at the end of a long day and before a long night ahead of baths, getting ready for bed, etc.  So, chicken nuggets it's been. 

I will say that it started out with baked chicken nuggets, which weren't great, but they at least made me feel somewhat better, but then the grocery store stopped selling them for some reason, so it then turned into chicken nuggets that I would assume are fried and that have more sodium in them than I care to even read about.  Well, finally, I decided that Alex is now of the age where this just isn't going to fly.  He is old enough now that he needs to start to try new foods and he needs to stop eating chicken nuggets.  So, how did we start this new phase in his life?  We lied!  We told him that he has now eaten every single chicken nugget that was ever made and there just aren't any more for him to eat.  And, he believed us!  :)  Now, that doesn't mean that he has stopped asking for them, because he still does.  However, we have moved on.  We are now eating baked chicken instead of nuggets.  No salt, no nothing.  Just baked chicken.  And, he likes it.  AND, he has started to ask to try things all on his own!!!!  So far, he has tried:

Prime Rib
BBQ Ribs
Pizza
Spaghetti
Mannicotti (with spinach and all!)
Steak
Brats
Pork (which we said was chicken, but that's beside the point..)


You may be saying to yourself, Whitney - those things aren't necessarily much better for him than chicken nuggets.  My answer to that is a) it is a VARIETY and that is really what we are trying to achieve here and b) we really don't have a problem with anything other than the main course.  He LOVES broccoli, most fruit and black beans.  So, I do think that he has had a well rounded diet in the sense that he has a fruit and vegetable with every meal.  It is just the main thing that is a problem.  So, we've made progress, people.  We've made progress.