Meal time with Madison

My goodness. Did they not warn me about meal times with a toddler.

To be fair to Madison, most days she is fine, especially if she is ravenous she will eat most adult looking food served to her.

But check out meals that she has little appetite for. Like oatmeal. Or a whole host of other things that she used to eat: yoghurt, banana, occasionally papaya, sweet potato.

THE WHINING. And writhing. And head turning/shaking. Enough to drive me bonkers up the wall. Especially if I'd just spent the past hour slaving away, drenched in warm sweat making the meal. And the hour before that planning the meal so that it would have the right balance of protein, fibre and carbohydrate.

I swore before I had kids that I would cook for my family. But after what Madison puts me through some days, I wonder " why bother!! She prefers the maid's cooking!!" Nothing like a kid to MAKE YOU EAT YOUR WORDS!!!

Now I mainly grit my teeth and swear in silence ( not good if her next words turn out to be a "s" or "f" word!). IGNORE IGNORE IGNORE whining. Take her out of high chair calmly and tell her to come back when she wants food. And I still cook ( just for the rest of the family), something really therapeutic about concocting a meal out of ingredients.

Breakfast has to be the hardest. Now she knows what she will or will not eat, I try and let her feed herself as much as possible. Only trouble is she cannot use utensils well yet and she has no molars. I am having some difficulties being innovative in breakfast options that are high in fibre, calcium and/or protein and still be finger foods.

So far, omelette, pancakes and muffins seem to work. I scour supermarket shelves looking for fibre rich cereals for her snacks. And fibre rich recipes to try out. The internet is an amazing place to find gems to try out. Oatmeal raisin muffins are quite easy and successful, as are buckwheat pancakes. Today I found this 5 grain fibre mix that I shall try to incorporate into my next creation. ( I do add chocolate as a cheat to add flavour and to tempt her !) Cost me 10 bucks for a small pack!!

Milk is another challenge. How much do toddlers really need? Some also say too much cow's milk is not good either. Organic? ( way too expensive -- I do draw the line at some things) Soy?
( not as much calcium, too much sugar. Unsweetened soy is an acquired taste ) I have kinda weaned her directly to cow's milk, bypassing formula altogether ( hurrah! anyway I doubt she'd take formula ) That I also cheat sometimes-- what else? Chocolate malt diluted with fresh milk. Or milo with milk.

But thank goodness her meals are pretty simple these days. 3 square meals and 1 snack inbetween. Milk once to twice a day either after the meal or inbetween. I have to remember to keep the snack small is all. Otherwise pay the price of a too-large snack at dinner time.

My hope for Madison of course includes the usual: growing up healthy, having a positive attitude towards food and body image. Most of all, I hope she grows up enjoying food as much as I do!