Eating. It's always been a challenge in our house.
From the very beginning, we had issues with all of the boys. First, it was their constant need to eat. All of them have been 95th percentile and above their entire lives. And they came into this world ready to eat. I managed about five months with Connor before we started supplementing breast milk, and only about four with the twins. I continued to breastfeed for much longer with both of them, but not exclusively because it simply wasn't enough. We started everything a little earlier than normal, from baby cereal to baby food to table food and even whole milk. They were insatiable as babies.
As they got older, the challenge changed. They still wanted a lot to eat, but only certain things. And that range was extremely narrow. Perhaps they pick that up from their mother. I'm told I was a picky eater as a child, and still have a rather limited list of things I like. If it's green, meaning a vegetable and good for you, I probably don't like it. Even if it's not green and it's a vegetable, I probably won't like it. So the apples don't fall far from the tree, apparently.
Connor, thank goodness, has outgrown his picky stage. He actually will try just about anything once, sometimes with a little persuasion and sometimes with simple childlike excitement about something new. He will also eat just about anything. He graduated to meat a long time ago, and he can actually eat me under the table sometimes. He devours a whole ribeye steak and asks for more. Bacon, he can put away 10 slices and think nothing of it. Boneless pork chops, at least two. And he even eats quite a few vegetables and fruits as well.
But the twins, they are something else. Their diet is EXTREMELY limited. And it seems to be getting worse (not better) as they get older. As far as Sawyer is concerned, anything with bread (or flour) in it is good. Bread, crackers, chips, dry cereal, whatever. He thinks it's the only thing you're supposed to eat, ever. Xander is a little more flexible. He's also a dairy addict. Milk and yogurt are his staples.
But the grand total of their acceptable foods looks something like this:
Dairy. Milk, yogurt.
Fruits. Pineapple, mandarin oranges, bananas (only Xander and only sometimes), grapes (only Xander), applesauce.
Vegetables. Green beans (mostly Xander) and corn (only Xander lately).
Meat. Chicken nuggets, hot dogs and bacon (only Sawyer on any of the meats).
Grains. Bread, plain fajitas, bagels, cereal, chips, crackers, popcorn, pizza, french fries, doughnuts.
Do you see the dilemma. That list is pretty short. Even little kid favorites like macaroni and cheese or peanut butter and jelly are not guarantees. Sawyer will sometimes put away macaroni likes it's the best thing ever. Other times he won't even touch it. Xander won't ever touch it. Peanut butter and jelly is only good about one out of every three tries.
And that's the other issue. What they'll eat one day like it's the best thing ever, a week or so later might be something they won't even touch. You never know. Until you've fixed it and they push it away.
We're working on it. I'm offering a few options, including at least one thing I know they like. I will give them as many as two cups of milk, but I'm not performing short-order cook options any more. You get what you get and you either like or wait and hope for better at the next meal. It's too hard to try to figure out what each one is going to eat at any given time, and we've let them get away with it for far too long.
Tonight was my first experiment. We had a roast with egg noodles, green beans, white corn, and yeast rolls. Each one got a plate with a little of everything.
Xander devoured his green beans and corn, asking for "more, please" as soon as those items were gone. He also ate two rolls and had two glasses of milk. He wouldn't touch the meat or the noodles, which I expected.
Connor ate everything on his plate, even though he doesn't usually like green beans. I told him to at least try one, and if he didn't like it, he didn't have to eat any more. I had purposefully only put three on his plate. He surprised us both by "liking" them tonight, and ate all three and asked for more, which he also ate. He also had seconds of everything except his roll, and he had three glasses of sweet tea. I figure if you eat well, you deserve a few extra treats, and the extra tea was his for tonight.
Sawyer was the stubborn one tonight. Bread, only bread. He ate two rolls and wouldn't touch a single thing on his plate. I did refill his milk for him, so he had two glasses of milk. But I wouldn't let him have another roll without eating something off his plate. I tried to help him with his corn and his green beans, something he eats on occasion. He was having none of it. And now he's going to bed a little more hungry than usual.
I'm sure at some point I might give in. The boys are persistent (and by that I mean really annoying) when they want a drink or a snack. Usually it's much easier to give in than it is to hold out. But I'm going to try. Especially at meal times.
One. Family. Meal. This short-order cook is retired.
