Cookies for Breakfast

Daniel is not the world's best eater.  He enjoys a very short list of foods, and just because he liked it yesterday does not mean he will eat it today.

Breakfast, for example: he likes cereal.  Rice Krispies mixed with Kix is the current meal of choice. 

With school starting, I've started making breakfast instead of just letting the kids have cereal.

On that topic, I'll add in some other thoughts: for several months- like, 9- I've done a dinner menu plan.  Otherwise, how the heck are you supposed to know what's for dinner??  And now that school has started and I have lunches to pack, snacks to pack, dinners and preschool and soccer practice and psychologist appointments and book club to juggle, I've switched to planning every meal.  I have a week-at-a-time menu that includes all three meals and snacks.  The other day I said something about checking the menu to see what was for dinner, and I was told I was altogether too organized.  Seriously?  Because I plan what to eat instead of paying $2.00 a meal for the girls to have hot lunch every day and looking in the fridge at 5:00 to see if anything inspiring appears for dinner?  Or, as was this person's plan, ask all my facebook friends what they're having and just copy one of their meals, assuming I have all of the ingredients on hand.  How else would I have a clue what to buy at the grocery store if I didn't have some idea of what was for dinner; buying a cartload of groceries and winging it would ensure that 1) I keep Subway and McDonalds in business, and 2) my menu would be full of frozen, chemical-laden foods.  But whatevs.

So, making breakfast.  We've had lots of oatmeal, eggs and toast, and smoothies.  Cereal is reserved for weekends.  But Daniel has not been enjoying my newfound Martha-ness.

I've tried making him a serving of whatever the rest of the clan is having, setting it at his place, and, when he yells for his krispy kix, telling him I'll get it in a minute and then leaving the kitchen.  For a couple of days, he'd eat whatever I'd made while he was waiting for me to make his cereal. 

But he quickly caught on.

So the other day when I made smoothies that had chocolate protein powder in them,  I told him it was a chocolate milkshake.  The smoothie disappeared quickly.

EUREKA!!  Simply call things something dessert-sounding!

Yesterday I made Honey Baked Oatmeal.  It smelled amazing; didn't taste as great to me, but the kids all loved it. 

When Daniel got up, I asked him if he wanted an oatmeal cookie for breakfast.  He gobbled it up and asked for more cookies.

This morning, he wanted more oatmeal; luckily, there were leftovers.  He again ate his bowl and got more.

The problem: he will at some point tell people I feed him cookies for breakfast.  Or milkshakes. 

Parenting dilemma #571- lie to your children about what you're feeding them so they eat it, or call it by the actual name knowing they'll turn up their nose.