The Usual

On Mondays and Friday we usually go through the Subway drive-thru on the way home from stroller aerobics, and the other days of the week we make lunch at home. I'm told by my mommy friends that Tessa's usual order is not very toddler-like...a tuna salad min-sub (3 inches) on wheat with olives and green peppers.

She didn't really care for lunch meat...she usually just picks it off and eats the bread, so I decided to try chicken or tuna salad and she really likes it. Then she begged all of my olives off my sandwich and the peppers off Jer's, so we loaded her up with her own. And that's how we landed on 'the usual'. We have to scrub up really well afterward or she'll stink all afternoon.

We are lucky that Tessa is a good eater. She will eat anything and everything. That's not to say she doesn't have preferences, but at least she's open to trying new things. I guess eating is one of the areas we've been 'stict' on. She eats what we eat and has since she started table food. She doesn't ask for different stuff cause I'm pretty sure she knows she won't get it anyway.

I guess I figure if she's hungry she'll eat, which is pretty much true. Some nights she doesn't eat much of anything and some night she chows...but if she's hungry because she chose not to eat something, that's her choice not mine. Man I sound mean, huh? I'm equally as mean regarding sleep training, but that's off subject.

If she's done or chooses to boycott dinner, then she still has to sit in her seat until Jer and I are finished. Usually at dinner she'll start squalling for her bath, but obviously she has to wait. If she intentionally throws food on the floor we take her food away for about a minute...she gets mad and we explain why, then give it back. No toys at the table, no TV after about 4:30. We've also been working on saying 'more ___ please' instead of just screaming MILK!!...which she's starting to get the hang of.

Just call me the dinner nazi ;)