I got home from Dallas Friday morning at 2am. My husband had been home alone with the kids all week with is right arm in a cast.
By dinnertime we were exhausted.
But everyone had gotten sick of pizza.
We decided to go out for Chinese food. The only problem was that my second son doesn't eat anything except bread, cheese, pasta, apples and chicken nuggets. He won't even let us put butter on the bread.
We've been encouraging him to try different foods but it usually ends with him crying.
I figured that if it came down to it he could probably eat white rice.
We got to the restaurant and ordered a ton of food. Lo mein, chicken wings, rice, sushi, etc.
Everyone dove in. INCLUDING him. He grabbed a chicken wing and started gnawing on it. He tried the pork fried rice (he didn't like it.) He tried the white rice (he did.) He tried the egg roll (he didn't like it) he tried the lo mein (he didn't like it.)
When he dipped the half eaten chicken wing in the duck sauce and said, "MMM!" my daughter froze and looked at him with terror in her eyes. "THAT'S NOT HIM." she said.
It's exactly what we were all thinking and we all burst out laughing.
Later he told me, "That wasn't me at dinner. It was my twin brother."
I said to him, "Well, can you tell me who is going to be at Thanksgiving?"
We have food troubles here too. My youngest (3) loves yogurt, cheese and pizza. But most of all, he loves Macaroni & Cheese. If he had his way, I'd serve him that for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day!
My oldest (7) has a wider array of foods he likes but even he has narrow limits. Yesterday afternoon, I made turkey sloppy joes for lunch. (Turkey, frozen corn, chickpeas & sloppy joe sauce served with brown rice.) He screamed and yelled for a half hour about how he hated this, has never eaten this before and how awful we were to make him eat this. (Meanwhile, he *has* eaten it before and *loved* it when we made it.) Finally, he agreed to just try one bite. He put it in his mouth and exclaimed that he loved it. (Of course, he only ate about half of the small portion I gave him before declaring himself full.)
I can't wait for the day when their culinary horizons expand beyond junk food and into healthier fares. Especially because I love experimenting when I cook and I'd love for them to eat what I make without resorting to sneaking veggies into dishes they otherwise like. (Like this week's planned Macaroni & Cheese with pumpkin sneaked into it.)
Posted by: TechyDad | November 22, 2010 at 09:12 AM
Hahaha...I also had a picky eater who LOVED Duck Sauce. We kept a bottle at home so he would eat real food. By covering it with Duck sauce. He now loves most stuff but still hates anything with mayo or cream. He's 17 and life is good. You'll get there too!
Good luck!
Posted by: Lynn MacDonald | November 22, 2010 at 09:54 AM
Yay that he tried new stuff!! Hopefully he realizes it didn't kill him and turns it into a trend!
Posted by: That One Mom | November 22, 2010 at 10:23 AM
My little brother ate primarily hot dogs and/or macaroni & cheese for the better part of two years when we were kids. I don't know how (or why!) my parents did it, fixing two full dinners every single night...
Posted by: Downloadable08 | November 22, 2010 at 01:04 PM
your second son sounds just like my little brother! My brother is so bad, that if my mum makes her normal pasta sauce and adds peas, he won't eat it, he won't eat plain salted nachos, but does like ready salted crisps. He cries at resturants if there's nothing he won't eat, it's so annoying!
Im the least picky in my house (thought i was very normal) went to uni and found that i am actually quite fussy, haha
Sammy
Posted by: Sammy | November 22, 2010 at 02:20 PM
My comment disappeared.. so, welcome home! :)
Posted by: Shannon | November 22, 2010 at 02:33 PM
how cool that you had twins and didn't even know it!
I was picky like that as a child. not so much with flavors but with textures. and I didn't like sauces at all. and none of my food could touch. taco night for me meant my plate looked like a painter's palette.
yeah I'm still totally OCD.
Posted by: andygirl | November 22, 2010 at 03:14 PM
Aaahhh, kids - they are so much fun!!
Good luck at Thanksgiving, maybe it's a new trend.
http://www.happyfamilytravels.wordpress.com
Posted by: happyfamilytravels | November 22, 2010 at 09:06 PM
Maybe if you pour duck sauce all over everything he will eat it. Just a thought.
Posted by: Sarah Day | November 22, 2010 at 10:49 PM
"...my daughter froze and looked at him with terror in her eyes. "THAT'S NOT HIM." she said."
Hil-freaking-arious.
Posted by: Tony McFadden | November 23, 2010 at 04:54 PM