As far as almost-2-year-olds go, I guess Meghan is exhibiting normal toddler behavior when it comes to eating. But that doesn’t make it any easier. Last night for dinner, she had a variety of foods to choose from, many that at one time or another have been her favorites: cheese, rice, avocado, beans, and red peppers. She ate some of the cheese and declared she was “All done”.
Me: Are you sure?
Meghan: All done.
Me: You don’t even want to finish your cheese?
Meghan: All done.
Me: What about the beans?
Meghan: ALL DONE!
Okay, I got it. I usually wait to offer her fruit until she’s finished with all the other foods to discourage her from filling up on the fruit. I think if she had her way she’d eat only fruit. Isn’t there such a thing as a fruitarian? So even though she adamantly told me she was finished with her dinner, she was happy to eat a bowl of grapes as dessert to her not-eatten dinner.
We are visiting my in-laws right now and her Poppy nervously asked, “Does she often not eat anything for a meal?” I guess that depends on how you define often. More than once a week? Probably. What’s a mom to do? Just grin and hope that her child doesn’t grow up to be a meal-skipping anorexic. I can’t force the kid to eat and I’m not going to resort to offering her unhealthy foods so she’ll get more calories in. Quality is much more important than quanity in my eyes. She’s growing and happy so I think we’re doing okay.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t get incredibly happy when I find something that she loves and will happily eat. That brings me to the topic of today’s post. (Sorry about that drawn-out intro.) I am completely, head-over-heels in love with Gena’s Avocado, Chocolate, and Sweet Potato Pudding.
Side Note: If you haven’t checked out her raw food blog, you need to. I am not a raw foodist, but know that it can be extremely beneficial to incorporate raw food into our diets. And everything I’ve tried from her site has been delicious.
Remember how I told you Meghan’s not so big into orange veggies? It’s difficult to get her to eat them at all. This was not difficult to get her to eat. She loved every bite and immediately asked for more when she finished her first bowl. I totally admit that while pudding is usually thought of as a dessert, this was more like her main course for lunch. She wasn’t eating much of the other things I offered her, so I decided to go ahead and let her try the pudding I made earlier. She gobbled it up so quickly and enthusiasticly that I knew this would be a new go-to dish. A bonus is that I love it, too. With the simple sugars that come from the dates, I think I’ll use it more as a dessert than a main course, but won’t feel bad if it’s the main course once in a while.
As I mentioned before I am at my in-laws so don’t have access to my regular picture-editing software, so these pictures might not be the greatest, but I still want to share Meghan eating her pudding.
Meghan's not big into meat, either. I'm actually really glad she doesn't want it. 🙂
I have the same problem with Sam. As of late, he never wants to eat meat!