Kelly's eating woos

I cannot believe it, but Kelly ate a hamburger for the first time on Saturday. We played a little game and she ate her entire "baby" burger. She also tried sweet potato shapes. I used cookie cutters to make shapes out of sweet potatoes and then baked them. She didn't care for them that much, but just the fact that she ate two of them just made my day.

I told her I was going to make tuna fish for lunch and she was so excited. Kelly LOVES tuna fish. But, when I opened the pantry I found that we did not have any tuna fish. I did however have a packet of tyson chicken. I told her this was some new packaging for the tuna fish and mixed it with mayo and mustard like I do the tuna. I put it on some bread and she ate the entire sandwich along with a GREAT helping of green peas. Then she also ate cucumbers and raw carrots.

Although this may sound wonderful to some of you and you're thinking she loves tuna fish and green peas??? Kelly is a very good picky eater. She eats whole grains, most any fruit & drinks her milk. BUT, she is so very picky. She only eats gerber meat sticks, an occassional chicken nugget/finger, and tuna fish. She eats a peanut butter sandwich, no jelly. She will not use any sort of dipping sauce. And she will eat plain pasta, no sauce, no butter, no nothing. She will only eat the Gerber toddler sweet potatoes and spaghetti. I've tried to trick her, but it doesn't work. We had a battle last night, because I was determined once and for all that the girl was going to eat MY sweet potatoes. I mean, come on, they taste much better than that mess in the Gerber bowl with the purple lid. She fought and fought and finally ate some. She made an ugly face with every bite. I was really starting to wonder if she could think they tasted bad. However, later when we were getting ready for bed and I was brushing her teeth I asked her if she liked the sweet potatoes. And guess what...yes, she did like them. Why the ugly face then? To get to me! It worked too.

It's hard for me to complain about her pickiness since she eats mostly only healthy things and eats a far better diet with less fat and calories than mom and dad. But, it makes dinner time a little frustrating sometimes. I'd like to just slap some food on her plate and have her eat it without complaining. Maybe when she's 20!