Picky Picky

So, the "usual" things didn't go on my list yesterday. Sweep the floor, wipe counters, organize the mail (that's another blog), supper, etc. I love cooking and baking, right? Right. We're running low on the grocery end of the house (plenty of dirty dishes, but not a lot of food), so we're running with creativity. Took some mashed potatoes from the deep freeze along with a round steak (not my favorite). Fried it up, cut it into strips, and put cream of mushroom soup on it (sort of as a gravy to go with mashed potatoes).

Harry and I eat 2 plates of it....well, not the actual plate....we could have.....cause they were paper.....to reduce the dirty dishes number....so then I have a ton of silverware in the dishwasher always and not a lot of plates or cups or bowls to wash. Where was I? Oh yes. We dish some up for Olivia and Darin. Darin's always been a great eater (learns from his daddy). Olivia used to be great, but now not so much. I think her step-sister is rubbing off on her - she eats only pizza, chicken strips, and a couple sides. This would not go over well in our household, mostly because when I was growing up, you ate what was on your plate. Period. We have a meat, vegetable, and fruit (bananas), no bread, but today is shopping day. That's okay. They had a vitamin. :)

Darin eats. Olivia doesn't. What do you do? She did eat her banana, though. Then she just sat at the table playing with her necklace quietly, hoping that we wouldn't notice she wasn't eating. You know that phrase, "if you can't hear me, you'd better find me."? So, being the observing parents that we are, take note of this. Then the pouting routine, knowing that when she goes back to her mom's house, she can eat whatever....then why would she eat supper? Dead end, cause we can't say "well, if we don't eat supper, we can't have a bedtime snack" because that's not up to us. All we can say is "it's a long time 'til breakfast" because any threat would be an empty one at this point. And there's nothing I dislike more than empty threats, even though I've been guilty of making them. Follow through is the key here. Always a warning first, then a follow through. I don't get why that's so hard for today's parents.

So we're at a stand still. I got to thinking and at every single meal, there is something that she says she doesn't like - even if she does! I've seen her eat it 100 times, but all of a sudden "I don't like that". I know heth mentioned this before....did you find something that works? Does anyone have some good advice here? We only have control over this household - not both of them. But how can I balance the 2 nicely? Someone? Anyone? K- enough rambling out of me. Later taters.