A Lesson In Patience

Mealtimes are an interesting time of day at my house.  Interesting might be too nice of a word.  Mealtimes are a nightmare.  Now you might be saying to yourself, "I thought Isabelle ate everything, including cans of green beans and plenty of healthy vegetables."  Well, that was last week.  This week is a whole new ball game.  My regular, normal, eat whatever child has left the building and has been replaced by a soon to be two year old child who refuses to eat anything.  Anything that is except cheese and crackers.  Cheese and crackers for breakfast, cheese and crackers for snack, more cheese and crackers for lunch and cheese and crackers for dinner.  You also might be asking, "why keep giving the girl cheese and crackers?"  Well, I invite you to mealtime at our house.  You see, I try to avoid the cheese issue by making sure she is nice and hungry before sitting down to eat.  I then start my ritual by offering every other food we have in the house that someone might eat, all the while watching Isabelle cry for cheese and crackers.  Tonight, for dinner we went through multiple fruits, several dinner options including her previous favorite spaghetti and something I thought all children liked.....cheeseburgers, which oddly enough I thought she would eat because it included cheese.  Other recently rejected foods include cereal, pancakes, bacon, toast, peanut butter sandwiches, chicken, pasta of any kind, pizza, peas, apples, turkey and applesauce.  So the journey begins, find food Isabelle will eat.  I hope I can keep my sanity through this new phase.  If you have suggestions of healthy, non-fried, easy to make food for toddlers, I would appreciate all the help I can get!  As a side note the dish cannot contain pasta, rice, peas, green beans, fruit, chicken, hamburger, or turkey!!!!!