Great expectations

I saw the book I Was A Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids the other day at Babies 'R Us. I thought the title was sooo funny! I haven't read it yet, but I really want to. It is written by Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile if you want to check it out. It made me think about the expectations we have before we have children and the surprises that every mom goes through after they are here.

Before I had kids, I wanted my kids to be good eaters. I said I wouldn't cut the crusts off bread or peel the skins off grapes to get them to eat. They would eat whatever I offered. They would love veggies and drink lots of water. Well, that is not how life turned out. Austin is a pretty good eater, but Ethan is not. He would live on jelly sandwiches, pretzels and french fries if I let him. We have tried everything from putting syrup on his chicken to giving stickers for bites of vegetables. Nothing has worked and so I do cut crusts off bread and would skin anything if he would eat it!

Today I resorted to hand feeding him spaghetti. I told him he was bird and he was eating worms. He loved it and gobbled them up! I was so happy! Hey, I will do anything to get my kids to eat good food.

After I first posted this today, I saw Jerry Seinfeld's wife on Oprah. She wrote a book called Deceptively Delicious that talks about sneaking good veggies in our kids' food. She uses pureed vegetables in recipes so that kids can't tell they are in there. Some examples are chicken nuggets with broccoli and macaroni and cheese with butternut squash. Here is the link to her blog on Oprah.com. http://www2.oprah.com/foodhome/food/jseinfeld/about/blog/blog_main.jhtml I am so excited about it and I can't wait to buy the book. How crazy is it that I saw the show the day I write about my food frustrations!