Twinkies

The food wars have reached new heights around the Madsen home.  Josh pretty much refuses to eat anything, claiming that it's all "gross".  (Or, in his words before being sent to his room for rudeness, it's all "*barfing noises*".)

Seriously, food that he ate just last week he refuses to touch now. (For example, oh-so-gross peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.)  Food that he's eaten for years and years he's decided he'll have nothing to do with.  (For example, disgusting oatmeal with raisins.)

This child.

This is the child who was born at a whopping 9lbs 15oz and then proceeded to nurse SO MUCH that he literally gained TWO POUNDS in two weeks.  I remember the pediatric nurse double checked his weight and then checked to see if the scale was calibrated correctly when she weighed him.  It was awesome.

So of course my baby who wanted to eat everything in sight is now my pickiest eater.

The thing is, I know it's just an independent streak he's going through.  He wants to control something, and food is an easy target.  How do I know?  Because I can easily get him to eat if I bribe him.  (No, I do not bribe him often.  But I'm not above it now and again.  It's a very useful parenting tool. :)  Granted, I'm sure there are some things that he really doesn't like to eat, and I'm okay with that.  But when it's Every. Freaking. Meal.  Then I have issues.

So if Josh comes to your house and claims he's starving, please know that it's his choice to starve and not because I don't feed him.  Oh, I refuse to cater to him and make meals just for him, but I always offer him a variety of food that is most certainly not gross.  (For the record, if Josh had complete control over our meal menus it would all be sugar.  Pure sugar.  With a hamburger or hot dog thrown in every now and then.)

What does this have to do with Twinkies?

Well, ever since Twinkies came back on the market I've been thinking I should introduce them to my kids.  I mean, c'mon, it's a Twinkie.  Not an every day treat, but certainly something you should try at least once in your life.  But our local WalMart has been sold out every time I went until last week.  So today all of the kids get Twinkies in their lunches!  Spencer was excited.  Josh was dubious - I suspect he'll gobble it up and then claim to hate it, thinking I'll be none the wiser.  And Tess and Cole?

The Twinkie was the first thing she went for.  Yum.

Tess eats her Twinkies like she eats her hot dogs - from the middle.  (I should mention that I let Picassa recommend all of the filters and cropping and such on these photos.  Because dramatic photos of my children with Twinkies are funny.)

Cole was not too interested in the Twinkie.  I told him it was cake, but he went for the cantaloup first.  Good boy.

One Twinkie, all alone.  He eventually did try it and decided he didn't like it.  I thought that was odd, so I had a bite.  You know what?  I'm not a huge fan of Twinkies either!  I'm more of a Hostess Chocolate Cupcake girl, if I have to choose some sort of fat-and-sugar-laden packaged lunch dessert.

How long 'till this one decides to hate all food?

Some day, some day far, far into the future, my children will appreciate the meals I made them.  Or they will have children who give them this much grief over food as they give me.

Either way, I'll be satisfied.