Friday, February 20, 2009
Foods / Fun and Games / Good advice Toddler Appetites: What's the Story?
Posted by Nicki Wood on Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 11:11 AM
On our last trip to Hot Kebabs, our toddler-friend ate a pile of the gritty, tangy table condiment called sumac, then reached out his precious chubby fingers for more.
Toddler appetites are wicked hard to figure. One week, all they want is oatmeal. So you buy the 50-serving-size box. They never touch it again -- now the favored food is pomegranates.
Whether you'd only eat balsamic-sprinkled tater tots, or your nephew couldn't get enough kung pao chicken, what's your toddler food story?
Comments (10)
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We have on videotape, trying to convince my baby brother to eat broccoli. It even had cheese on top, and he cried and screamed and moaned, but my mom wouldn't let him up from the table until he at least tried it. After (no kidding) an HOUR, he finally tried and, and in the middle of his tears said "This is good."
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My 3 1/2 year old son used to eat EVERYTHING. I constantly bragged to my friends about it. Peas, carrots, fish. You name it. Big mistake. The food gods decided to punish and now he will only eat club crackers and cinnamon crunch bagels from Panera.
Probably a bit past true toddler stage, but I found my son hiding under the kitchen table one night eating what he called "white cheese". It was a stick of butter. Beware once they can open the refrigerator door!
Joan, as a parent whose child eats 8 things, I'm feeling your pain.
OOOh pogo. What was the, ah, outcome of the stick of butter?
As a chef, I was always proud of my son Maximus for trying cool exciting things from the moment he started eating solid foods. He spent about 2 hours a day with me at Chapel Bistro while we waited for his mom to get off work. He would eat foie gras, braised leg of lamb, ceviche, or whatever I handed him.
One day I was putting some pickled jalapenos on a sandwich I had made and his curiosity stood full in attention. Warily, I gave him one small ring. He ate it as always, grinned, and made the gesture that translated to "more" so I reluctantly gave him another one. Finally after about a dozen slices I had to cut him off. I didn't know what kind of harm the hot chilies might inflict on a 7 month old digestive system. I still to this day can't figure out how he ate so many of them without feeling the slightest bit of discomfort. Perhaps he enjoyed that nagging sting on the back of the tongue and on the lips. I dunno, but at the time it was the coolest thing.
-side note- now at four all he wants to eat is "chicken and fries." I blame it on the propoganda subliminally inserted through Teletubbies, and not his upbringing.
My 9 month old will eat anything right now. The faces though are what's killer. He won't like something, screw his face up and then open his mouth for another bite. The best one is the time we gave him a bite of ice cream. I don't think he eve even tasted it. His tongue touched the spoon and he had the fingernails on chalkboard look. Hey Stuart! How are things?
fluff - fortunately he was only about halfway through the stick. No ill effects, as far as I can remember. We did become much more diligent in keeping those string cheese sticks around, so we didn't have a repeat performance!
Side note: he's a serious cheese hound now, particularly fond of strong blues. Cabrales and Fourme d'Ambert are his current favorites...
As a child, I nibbled raw bullion cubes, dry powdered milk, and dry cram-of-mushroom soup. However, my parents drew the line at my sisters, who routinely ate sand at the beach.
