You Don't Win Friends With Salad

Every parent quickly comes to the realization that feeding a toddler is hit and miss. While that can be taken quite literally, I mean it in the figurative sense. Ever since Eddie stopped nursing and got teeth, we've been trying to expand his diet to include, well, everything. Every parent also quickly comes to the realization that cooperation is not a toddler's strong suit. Perhaps it is due to my lack of creativity in thinking up meal ideas for Eddie, but it seems that he eats the same three things over and over again: macaroni and cheese, quesadillas, and peanut butter sandwiches. These items are, of course, supplemented with yogurt, grapes, pureed vegetables, pickles, the occasional nibble of corn on the cob, and lots of crackers.

Despite our best efforts, Eddie seems to have been born a vegetarian. The only "meat" that I have successfully gotten him to eat willingly is the Gerber 2nd Food Apples and Chicken puree. As you may imagine, the stuff is disgusting. It is brown and runny and does not resemble chicken in the slightest. Eddie loved it. We have tried giving him hot dogs, chicken nuggets, grilled chicken, steak, deli meat, pork roast, bacon, etc, etc. Sometimes he will eat one piece before carefully moving all the other pieces from his tray to the floor. Sometimes he will put one piece in his mouth, taste it, then extract it and place it on the floor. Most of the time, he won't even try it. We try to trick him by hiding meat pieces in other things that he likes. He is too smart for us and rarely falls for it. If he does accidentally get a piece in his mouth, it is quickly ejected.

As life-long carnivores, Dave and I are not really sure how to handle this. Do we need to be worried about stunting Eddie's growth because he's not getting any protein? Do we need to make him eat tofu and beans? Do we need to puree all sorts of meats and add them to his yogurt and macaroni? Perhaps we just need to explain the food chain to him and then he'll get it.