Quinoa Baby

For dinner tonight we had Indian-spiced pork kabobs, quinoa tabbouleh, and fresh fruit.  It was, and I'm totally tooting my own horn here, fantastic.  (Especially the kabobs.  The quinoa?  It's growing on me, but there's a sort of aftertaste I'm not in love with...)

Tess was the only child to eat everything offered to her.  Not only that, she ate plenty of it.  Don't let the picture fool you - that was her second helping of the quinoa.

I love this age. 

All of my kids were like this as babies - they would eat just about anything.  But somewhere along the line Spencer became finicky about certain things, and Josh followed suit and took it to a whole new level.  Cole will still eat most of what's offered, but I've noticed him being a bit more picky lately as well.

I refuse to be a short order cook, which means I only cook one meal a night for the entire family because I refuse to cater to each child.  I also refuse to make only kid-friendly meals, because 1) most true kid-friendly meals are not very healthy, 2) I want to eat adult-friendly meals, and 3) my kids won't eat them even when I do make them, so what's the point?  This means that my children often do not eat the main dish I make.  I always try to have at least a side-dish they will eat; Spencer and Josh ate bread and apple slices for dinner.

I'm hoping that some day my children will learn to appreciate the sometimes adventurous meals their mother makes.  If they don't, then I curse them to hope they have children who are just as picky about food, so they can have the same joy I do in trying to get kids to eat.