Little Boys Who Eat Their Greens

When they eat their greens...Do they grow up big and strong? I don't know. I do know they grow big anyway. I know that because Collin has developed a strong affinity for broccoli. Blame his mama who loves, loves, loves the tree-shaped veggie. We put veggies on his plate pretty much every meal and don't make a big deal out of them. Eventually, he's grown to at least tolerate most of them, to an extent. Alas, broccoli has been slow to his list of loves. But, lately, it's been popular, even reheated. And, we all know reheated broccoli is kinda gross.

So, he packed it away at lunch today. He even passed up his stove top and rice-a-roni for it. Can you tell it was leftover special for lunch today. Hey, there was a hot dog in there too! We covered a lot of food groups with that lunch, I think, including the mashed up "meat in a casing" group. I'm just tickled that the most he ate was both broccoli and hot dog.

Anyway, as he jammed his mouth full of broccoli, it became a sport. Literally. He was challenging himself to see how much he could get in there at once and wanted my help. He couldn't coordinate his fork, hand and mouth all at once. If he tried, broccoli fell out. So, I had to assist. So long as more broccoli was getting down that gullet, I was game for this food sport. What they hey, right?

And, since he was such a good broccoli-eater, I had to reward that, right? So, broccoli does make kids bigger, at least in this house, and at least when Mommy's around because she's a sucker for giving the kid a cookie now and then. Yeah, the sweetie-face got a cookie for being so darn cute and for eating his greens. Just this once.

How can you deny a cookie to a face like that? How? How, I ask you? Well, I'm waiting for a good answer? Oh, and did I tell you the cute game we invented? I ask him where my hug is and he says things like, "nose!" and then hugs me with his nose; or "ear," and you guessed it, leans in with his ear. Seriously, give that kid a cookie.

And, when I asked him to, he sang the cookie song on cue. With hand clapping motion too! What more could I ask for? I think he earned his cookie. Don't you?

Broccoli update upon exiting chair: portions of broccoli were uneaten and hidden under his butt. Yes, while he did swallow the vast portion of broccoli, some, just some, a tiny portion, of it was jammed under his legs. What a sneak! And he wonders why he can't sit on the big boy upholstered chairs at the table! I have decided not to regret the cookie.