Picky Eater-R-Us

I used to have the best eater.  When we'd go out for dinner, servers and other patrons would always comment about what a great eater she was and how impressed they were with her behavior in a restaurant.  Our chests puffed up with pride because we knew it was true.  We were blessed with the perfect baby!  She would eat her dinner, be patient and just work on being adorable until it was time to leave.

And then......

What happened?

This child is living on a rotating menu of ravioli, chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese.  (And I won't even go in to her restaurant behavior.  She embarrasses us terribly.  Like, to the point of us saying that we will never eat out again.)

I feel like I'm starving her of important nutrients.  I feel like she's like going to get scurvy (I know that she won't but you know what I mean) or something due to lack of healthy foods.  The child will not drink milk.  And I've tried it a million different ways.  I've tried whole.  I've tried 2%.  I've tried skim.  I've tried soy.  I've tried Almond.  I've tried organic.  I've tried non-organic.  I've tried special cups.  I've tried twisty straws.  Although the twisty straw did work for a few weeks....she would only take a few sips from it. 

She will eat green beans, peas or mashed potatoes and sometimes broccoli or cauliflower.  And she does like blueberries, strawberries, grapes and mandarins.  So I do incorporate those sides with every meal.  I try to do a main food with a veg and fruit with every meal.  At least I feel some comfort knowing she's eating her fruits and veggies.

But I can't help but to panic about her milk and the three foods that I have to rotate.

And it's not for lack of trying.  I waste so much food trying new things that I think she may try....and fail every time.

Her pediatrician's advice is that she needs to eat what I offer or not eat at all.  Seriously?  I can't do that.  What mom can do that?  She's a baby!  Okay, so I know that it's probably the right thing to do....but I can't.  I'm not that strong.  And.....Kinley's the boss.  There, I admitted it.

Yesterday, I tried giving her chicken noodle soup (yeah, super healthy, I know---I was working on variety).

She went ahead and decorated the table (& floor) and even her hair....but would not put it in her mouth.  She chose to eat the fork instead.

I felt defeated.  What kid doesn't like noodles and chicken?  Mine, obviously.

This was the second attempt during lunch.  The first was a ham and cheese sandwich.  Day care lady feeds her boys a sandwich every day and they love it.  Not my girl.

So, I went to our old stand-by:  chicken nuggets, with a side of ketchup.

Am I a bad mom for not "making" her eat what I first serve?  What do you do for your toddler?  And what can I do about the lack of milk drinking?  I so wish that I didn't stop nursing her at 15 months.  I wish I had continued until she was 2.  I should have listened to my gut on that one.  Too late now. 

On a different note, I did a little "window shopping" on craigslist yesterday and came across this:

And for only $10, I was sold!  Kage played with a tunnel at day care lady's house and really enjoyed it, so I wanted to get one for here as well.  And the fact that it collapses flat was a huge selling point.  When she's not playing with it, I can store it under her crib.  So excited to get that today.

Aaaand, when R gets off work today, we're going to get her another stroller (yes, I know, we just got the jogger--but it's so not mall friendly) and then go to the big mall close by.  I'm going to get my wedding set replated to look shiny new.  It's over due. 

The weather is going to be perfect this weekend.  I think that Kage and I will visit the water park toddler play area today.  Tomorrow, we may actually go back to Church ABC.  We fell out of habit of going when the marriage went to crap.  Going back is part of our plan to getting things back on track.  Fingers crossed that it doesn't feel too weird in coming back. 

So with that being said....that is our weekend.

The girl loves ketchup!

So, we introduced ketchup to Kinley's diet....

I'm pretty sure she loved it. 

Whose got their hand in the peanut butter jar?

Today, I celebrate.  She drank milk from a sippy for the first time....without spitting it back at me.

I pray that this is the start of a regular thing. 

I always let the dog lick the *almost empty* peanut butter jar.  Unfortunately, this time I did it while the toddler was awake.  And then the dog lost the peanut butter jar to the toddler. 

Not exactly what you want to find when you're elbow deep into baking 7 dozen peanut butter cookies.

Chow Time

I have posted this enough of my facebook, that I feel bad asking for ideas again....but I'm back in the same boat as I was a month or so again.

I'm out of breakfast/lunch ideas for Kinley.

Since I have a week "off" from school, I want to make some meals for her and freeze them for easier planning later.

She's becoming a picky eater and that is the one thing that we did not want.  This is what she eats now:

Breakfast:
Scrambled Eggs with cheese
Fruit oatmeal
Yogurt
Peanut Butter toast (that is hit and miss)
Mini Muffins
Cheerios
Trix

Lunch:
Ravioli
Chicken Nuggets
French Fries
Hot dog (hit and miss)
Hamburger Helper (made with turkey)
Stroganoff
Chicken Noodle casserole
Chicken and Rice
Noodles with sauce (those Lipton bag things)

Vegetables:
Green beans
Peas
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Carrots (sometimes)
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet potatoes

Snacks:
Goldfish
Graham crackers
Club crackers
Ritz
Puff corn
Cheese
Animal Crackers

Fruits:
(I've yet to find one that she doesn't like, but our these are the norms in our house)
Banana
Kiwi
Mandarins
Grapes
Mango

What she used to eat but won't touch today:
Grilled Cheese
Toast

So help me....what can I add to her diet?  I know that I'm not being healthy enough with her meal planning and I want to be better.  We're also going to introduce whole milk to her this weekend.  In hopes that we're at the end of our nursing and ready to go to real milk.  We've let her taste milk before and it's not gone well....so this probably won't be a big hit.  But we're going to try.

Leave me a comment if you have some ideas for me to try!