Noodle Battle

Early on in Boy's time with us, I shared about some of our meal-time challenges. I remember asking his last foster mom for a more comprehensive list of favorites, and telling her that I wasn't planning on cooking different meals just for him, so I might as well start with things he liked... Her reply confessed that she pretty much cooked separately for him at each meal because he was so particular.

That was not going to happen in our house. This is not Burger King, you can't have it your way.

So we've been introducing our usual meal choices, along with a hefty plate of his favorite fresh veggies so that if he doesn't like dinner, he doesn't have to go hungry. We don't make a big deal about what he eats, which has helped minimize the button-pushing and boundary-testing, but we did notice a peculiar dislike for all variety of noodle. And it was maddening.

One evening, Matt - who is demonstrating exceptional parenting prowess at every turn -capitalized on a conversational moment with Boy to ask about his aversion to noodles. Hs response was something like:

"Well, if you wish really hard on a star, noodles can become snakes."

I suppose if I believed that, I'd avoid them too.

Matt handled it beautifully of course, and informed Boy that a) it doesn't work that way and b) noodles are made out of the same ingredients as lots of other things he loves. Like hamburger buns.

And because I'm kind of a brat, I only-sort-of intentionally planned a week's worth of meals involving mostly noodle/pasta dishes.

Sautéed chicken with buttered noodles. Boy ignored noodles.
Lasagna. Boy ate it. Didn't notice the noodles.
Tuna casserole. Boy ate that too, seemingly unaware of the noodles?

While I cooked yet another noodle dish, Matt broke the news to Boy that all of these things he seemed to like we're made with noodles even though the noodles looked and tasted different in each. Boy's jaw dropped. We stifled laughter.

Beef stroganoff, over noodles. Boy ate around the noodles, and we insisted on about 4 bites of actual noodle. He discovered that if you put stuff ON the noodle, it's actually not bad.

And tonight, I felt rather victorious as he ate most of the noodles in our Spicy Peanut Noodles, which he helped make. No fuss. No puking. Did I mention he "doesn't like" peanut butter?

So, I think that's 2 points for us, no? Too early in the game to call the winner of the Noodle Battle?