Trying to get A2 to eat

Jen and I were spoiled with A. He would eat almost anything we put in front of him. Vegtables, salad, fruit, and whatever else we tried. We did not realize at the time just how lucky we were. Along came A2, and as you know, every child is different. Where A would eat anything, our biggest struggle with A2 is getting her to eat. Anything.

This past weekend, we were at my parent's house. They had family and friends over to watch a Christmas boat parade. The boats are decorated with Christmas lights. The people on the boats throw candy to kids as they pass by. In the middle of dinner, the boats started passing by. The kids ran downstairs and were rewarded with quite a haul of candy. They came back upstairs and divided up the booty.

A2 decided that she wanted an orange tootsie roll pop, TRP for short. She brought it out to the dinner table and asked for it to be opened. A battle of wills ensued. On one side, Jen who wanted A2 to eat her dinner first. On the other side, A2 who wanted the orange TRP and nothing else. After some back and forth between the mom and the three year old, Jen compromised with A2. The deal was 3 bites of hotdog, or no TRP. A2 thought that was absurd. Jen and everyone else at the table tried to reason with her. Everyone tried little games or tricks to get her to eat. Nothing worked. It was a stalemate. A2 did not realize just how stubborn her mother can be. Eventually, and I do mean eventually, A2 got three bites down and earned her TRP. I must give A2 a little credit. She cried a little, but did not throw a fit or tantrum. She knows that gets her no where with us.

The next morning, a Sunday, Jen made our usual Sunday breakfast, a coffee cake. A2 usually eats the coffee cake, or at least some of it. Not on this day. I tried to get her to eat. No luck. A came to the rescue.

Jen got an "Elf (A named him Shorty) on the Shelf" last year. It is a little magic elf that reports back to Santa how the kids are behaving. Jen writes letters to the kids from the elf that describe what the elf observed the day before. The kids find the notes every morning. The letter on this morning told A2 to eat the food that was given to her. This is where A came to the rescue. After A2 told me that she was finished and had not eaten anything, A said, "A2, do you want the kitchen and baby doll from Santa? If so, you better eat your cake." That did the trick, bribery from an imaginary elf through her brother. A2 proceeded to eat her breakfast. We have the elf for 10 more days before he goes back to the North Pole, after that I do not know what we are going to do.

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