fruits & veggies

please tell me kids get at least some kind of essential nutrients from licking their veggies.

that's right - licking. because sometimes that's all hudson will do - lick it a few times before he clamps down his mouth in disgust. it happens with blueberries, grapes, apples, asparagus, squash... you name it, we've tried it, & he's licked & been done. it's totally maddening.

we're trying that whole thing where you just keep giving it to them & letting them "try" the food. they say sometimes it takes something crazy like 14 times of trying a food before kids will eat it. i've found nothing on licking, however.

on occasion, he WILL sink a tooth into a carrot before refusing it. i'm hoping a few drops of carrot juice sinks in or something.

he HAS been known to eat an apple piece or two, especially when someone ELSE talks him into it - but not usually for his mother (you know, the woman who carried him for 9 months & nursed him for EIGHT more!!!!!!).

i'm desperately trying to be patient. to keep breathing through lunch time. to not make a huge deal, because i really do think the bigger a deal i make it, the worse he refuses. it's just that it drives me SO GOSH DARN CRAZYYYYYYYYYY!!! he's totally into that "no" thing, too. as in...

"do you want some turkey?"

"no"

"do you want some cheese?"

"no"

"crackers?"

"no"

"raisins?"

"no"

"chex?"

"no"

i think you get the picture. everything is no, & somehow i'm supposed to figure out which "no" actually means "yes". only no one gave me the super human decoder to figure it all out!!!!

the worst part is that sometimes he'll eat some food & sometimes not. it's like this big cosmic game of figuring out what the heck he'll actually eat on even given day @ any given meal! are you kidding me???!

and YES, clint & i were totally the ones before we had kids that thought "oh, our kids will eat whatever we put in front of them! we won't be fixing all of this extra food for them!!". eating words right now.

so back to my question - do ya think they get anything from licking??


***i'm fully aware that this post comes right after i just posted praising him for eating a new food - cereal. oh the irony of life with a two year old :)