Circle Lunches

I was only half way surprised when food became the center of our power struggles for a little bit. I knew we were in for the long haul when he ate minimal calories in an entire day--then repeated it for several days in a row. I kept waiting for his hunger from the previous day to catch up, but it just felt like he was digging his heels in. He repeatedly asked for mac and cheese for every meal. So that was a guaranteed melt-down every few hours. I'm not above the neon orange noodles from a blue box, but I couldn't stoop to serving it up day after day after day. When he started insisting it be made fresh each time--leftovers were not good enough for the growing boy--I drew the line.

And I thought long and hard about why he likes neon orange noodles for lunch. And dinner. And he'll wish upon a star to have them at breakfast. Certainly not because they taste cheesy--because that wears off as soon as the bowl full cools down. At room temperature, they taste buttery, not cheesy. And mushy. Bleh! After much deliberation, I decided that he likes them because they are fun. Wheels and spirals and smile noodles--all from a box. Fun.

So if you want fun, buddy, I've got fun.

We came home from errands, ready for lunch when the usual request started ringing out: I want mac 'n  cheese.

No mac 'n cheese today, buddy, but if you would find a really good hiding spot while I fix lunch, today we are going to have a circle lunch. 

A circle lunch? What is that?

Well you'll just have to go hide while I make it. Then you'll find out when it's ready.

So he hid.

And I put cut out sandwich circles, apples, peanuts, and cucumbers in a circle on a big cookie sheet.

He was absolutely thrilled. He ate every last bite. Then he wanted more sandwich, please. Which shocked me--because he has never eaten a sandwich without pulling it apart and licking off the good stuff then discarding the bread. 

Since that day, we have had "D" lunch, line lunch (see pics below), flower lunch, muffin tin lunch, sack lunch, "X" lunch, "3" lunch, poke lunch, oh the list goes on.

With that first circle lunch, I told him he had to eat it in order--because I could see him eating all the apples and discarding the rest. Quite frankly, he was so excited with such a huge tray in front of him with a big circle just waiting to be eaten, that he would have agreed to anything. So he did--he ate everything around the circle in order. And he's stuck with that ever since.

I'm happy because I can get a serving of veggies in, fruit, protein, etc--and now lunch is his main meal of the day where I feel like David gets the best balance.

Which frees dinner time up for more discussion and laughing, and less fretting over how many or how few calories have been consumed, so you must eat more bites before you get down from the table.

Which means less power struggle in our home.

It comes full circle--and everyone wins.

David shows off his line lunch--especially fun because it took up two whole trays!!