Today My Daughter Ate Ham

Ellie had lunch meat today.

I sat her in front of the TV with a plate of strawberries, bananas, and rolled up slices of ham. She immediately scowled and said "HEY! I DIDN'T WANT THAT!"

I calmly told her, "Oh, I know... but remember how the doctor told you that 4 year old girls need to try some new food every day? Well - this is your new food today. And you don't have to eat it. I'm not going to make you. But if you do eat it, when we go to the grocery store later today... you get to pick out whatever kind of popsicles you want and you can eat a popsicle today."

"I want a rainbow popsicle."

"Great! We can do that. But you have to eat the ham."

"How much?"

"All of it."

"That's a lot."

"Do you want a rainbow popsicle?"

(Sigh) "Okay...."

And then she ate ham. And she didn't complain or cry or gag or throw up as she has been known to do in the past. I wouldn't say she gobbled it up or anything like that but she ate it with no issues. I had to walk in my closet and take a deep breath to keep from crying.



And yes, I'm bribing her with popsicles.

At this point I'm not even necessarily wanting her to try healthy food. I just want her to try food! I want her to stop being scared and to realize that food is yummy. I want her to try macaroni and cheese (FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY) and I want her to try lasagna and all the wonderful foods of the world. She's been missing out for a lot of years.

So here's my question for you:

As I'm introducing her to new foods, I want her to realize that food is yummy and I want her to take bites of things that aren't scary looking and also taste absolutely amazing so that she doesn't fight me on it. For years, the biggest battle was getting her to put it into her mouth. Now that she is, I want her to be like THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!!!



So - tell me your thoughts! What would you serve a child that is essentially being brave and eating things for the first time?!

Guess Who's Terrible at Blogging?

ME!!

Sorry. This Summer is kicking my booty. It's been so fun - but since I last wrote here, the following things have happened:

-Ellie had her 4th birthday

-Ellie had her 4th birthday party

-We went to Lost Pines in Bastrop, Texas with Grant's family for a glorious and amazing few days

-Ellie went to Gymnastics Camp

-We had guests come in town and stay at our house for 4 days - we had 5 kids total and it was so much fun!

- I went to a Dixie Chicks concert and almost cried. I sang every word and it took me right back to the 9th grade. IT WAS AMAZING.

-COUSIN CAMP!

In other news, I got INVISALIGN! I've had issues with my teeth for years, but after I've developed some pretty painful TMJ I knew it was time to take action. I got Invisalign which is awesome, however Invisalign has also brought with it a pretty awesome speech impediment.

I can't talk.

The letter S is hard.

I say "Yesh" and "Jeshush" and "Shtella & Dot" so that's neat.

I've never felt more secure in myself.

Since getting home from Cousin Camp, I've been slowly digging myself out of the laundry pile that I'm buried alive in and also watching the Olympics. I am incredibly impressed by these people but I also am so, so glad I am not an athlete. Way too much pressure happening there.

Here's a few pics:

Ellie's face in this pic has made my entire year.


Here's me and my Lou at the Dixie Chicks concert where we almost died of heat stroke but at least we would've died happy.

Last pic - this Brio Tassel necklace is new and it's perfect and once you wear it you'll never wanna take it off. She's paired it with our delicate engravable necklace which is low in stock so if you're interested now is the time :) 

Isn't it all so pretty?! 

I'm gonna try to be better at blogging. I really am. Ellie starts school in a few weeks and I am so ready for routine and structure I can't even stand it. 

Happy Thursday to you :)