Got Picky Kids???

I still marvel that all four of my children are so vastly different, yet they came from the same two parents. And I'm not just talking about personalities, I'm talking about FOOD and PICKINESS.

As far as I know, we all eat the same thing at our house. I don't fix one thing for one child, and something different for the rest of the family. At our house, I fix one meal for everyone, if you don't like it, you starve.

(Well, I wouldn't say starve, exactly. Since I am a "mean" mom, if you don't like it, you get to suffer through the humiliation of being force-fed a few bites by yours truly, and THEN you can be excused from the table. ;-)

ANYWAY, my kids always keep me guessing. Thing One, who before seventh grade was a virtual garbage disposal, now eats next to nothing. Red meat is "gross." (Yet she loves steak fajitas, go figure.) The mere mention of fast food sends her over the edge. She prefers what I like to call the "Rabbit Diet." But she'll eat Chick-Fil-A. (Only because the nuggets have some addictive ingredient in them that makes you crave them like mad.)

Thing Two is trickier. He's my "texture" kid. We gave him one teensy bite of Sushi, once, and we might as well have stuck needles in his eyes. He runs screaming from anything that grows--I used to joke when he was younger he was going to end up with Rickets, because he wouldn't eat anything fruit or vegetable unless I tricked him into it. Basically, if it isn't Pizza or Tacos (WITHOUT LETTUCE), he will whine and complain and yes, get force-fed by his mother. And yes, he is ELEVEN YEARS OLD. Highly entertaining for his younger siblings to watch him getting fed by me, let me tell you. I rejoiced the day they invented V-8 Fusion--with ground-up veggies in it. That's a staple at our house.

Thing Three is my Angel Eater. As in, he doesn't complain, he just eats it. He liked "adult" food at a young age, he was eating salad and cooked sushi at age six. I will admit recently he's decided cooked peas are From The Devil, other than that, he'll eat pretty much anything in front of him.

Thing Four is my Non-eater. I have to remind him it's time to eat, or he'd skip it. He's just too busy wanting to play, color, run around, etc. . Otherwise, he's a typical three-year old. Loves fruit, HATES vegetables, thinks grilled-cheese sandwiches are the best. Oh, and playing with his food? BEST FUN EVER. (**Mom sighs heavily and rolls eyes.**)

The other day, at Panera, Hubby and I were standing in line, and when it came our turn, I rattled off a list of foods (all carefully tuned to each kid and what they like) and when I deferred to him to tell the lady what he wanted to order, he looked at me for a minute and grinned. I felt smugly triumphant. Because although my kids are picky, I at least know what they like. Even if I sound like Meg Ryan ordering food in When Harry Met Sally.

I'm the Mom, after all. ;-)