Picky Toddler Eating the Follow Up

I promised a follow up on my son's picky toddler eating and what I am doing to try to combat it.  I received many good comments and have tried a few of those ideas and a few of my own and even a few pinterest ideas.  I really just loved the support from all my wonderful readers who made me realize I am not alone in this starvation process.

Here are a few things I have tried thus far.  I made him grilled cheese with small amounts of meat (since as I mentioned in the above post Destructo's biggest strike of all is protein of any kind.)  This was a huge failure after the first bite.  He must have tasted the chicken and wanted nothing to do with the sandwich after that.

I did a makeshift muffin tin lunch for him (since I don't actually own a muffin tin) and this was somewhat successful.  He ate the crackers, a little guacomole, fruit, and veggies.  Overall he ate much more than he had been, but still no protein.

The next day I decided to try this again with a cute Veggie Tales plate that he could see once he had eaten his muffin cups and set them aside.  He seemed to like that he could pick up the things he hates (pasta) and move it aside.  He didn't even want it on his plate.  But overall this lunch was a massive failure as he ate two bites of bears and the banana.  I even tried to let him have a picnic in the living room thinking maybe this would be fun for him and he would eat.  It ended when he threw a fit and stepped in his food and almost tracked cherry juice on my living room rug.

The next night for dinner we were having meatloaf.  I decided to get all creative and make him meatloaf cupcakes.  I made meatloaf with mashed potatoes and lima beans to decorate it.  He refused to even touch it because it had redness that was made of ketchup.  Mommy fail there.  I have to remember if I make these again not to glaze them with the glaze.  He literally would not even so much as touch them with one finger.  But hey they made me a nice little bite size snack the next day.  He did eat lima beans for dinner that night so hey I guess I should count my blessings.

So basically this post is a huge post about how I have failed to get my kid to eat.  But I did find that he likes praise and likes being a big boy so sitting with him and praising him when he uses his fork came into play.

I have two small toddler size metal forks that I have been using with him.  I need to buy a few more so I always have one clean.  He loves to eat and then look at me for a reaction.  He even stole my fork at the restaurant the other night and ate with a normal adult sized fork.  Fingers crossed this continues working.  I have no problem clapping for each and every bite he gets in his mouth if he is eating (and by eating I mean eating and not waking me up in the middle of the night because he is hungry.  Momma loves sleeping.)

A few things I plan on trying in the next few days are more creative ways to arrange his food to make it cute and appealing to him, a few recipes that are hidden protein sources, and possibly getting a small toddler sized folding table for him so he can sit in a chair like a big boy if I can find one cheap enough.

So here is my question for you guys, what foods are your kids favorites that are unexpected?  As I mentioned earlier, lima beans and peas (especially if they are cold) are one of Kai's go to's.  What a weirdo.  He also likes broccoli.