Toddler Awakenings: Rhythm Eating

Each morning Mimi and I sit down at the kitchen table for breakfast.  This is not as simple as it might seem. 

Mimi, like many toddlers, has become a picky eater.  But not in the traditional way.  Most kids, at least so I've heard, like a few types of food and that's all they'll eat.  The foods may go through cycles - carrot sticks one week, chicken fingers another, noodles one month, only rice the next - but at least they tend to stick with a specific food for a while.  Mimi, as any regular reader of this blog could guess, does not fit the mold.  Presented with three or four different foods at any given meal, she'll nibble from each and sometimes devour one of them.  But what she downs at one meal she'll completely refuse at the next.  Mimi's favorite foods only last one meal long. 

Such quickly passing preferences make it hard for Mimi to get as many calories as she needs, so in the past few weeks I've had to get a bit tricky.  Mimi tends to prefer very fresh food.  She'll eat leftovers occasionally, particularly if we had fried noodles, but most of the time she'll turn her nose up at anything that's been reheated.  This is particularly true with scrambled eggs.  Freshly made with a little cheese and butter, they don't last long in front of Mimi.  If I reheat them, though, those same eggs will be flung to the ceiling.  So, each morning I try to prepare something fresh for Mimi.  With her waking up hungry, it's the best time to calorie load.  She seems to approve!

But fresh food isn't enough.  No matter how tasty, Mimi can only concentrate on her food for so long.  So, to keep the chomping going, I've adopted a little strategy I first saw in the movie "Awakenings."  As Doctor Sacks is discovering new ways to "reach" some of his paralytic patients, an orderly shows him that a few of the patients are able to eat on their own with the right kind of music.  I thought the same strategy might work for Mimi.  So far, They Might Be Giants, Johnathan Coulton, and Puffy AmiYumi have worked best, though almost anything upbeat will usually do the trick.  Below, I've just asked Mimi, "Who'd like a little music with breakfast?"  I guess she does. 

Of course, I do make the occasional dietary slip-up with Mimi.  Here's one that happened last night.  Why did I think leaving a fully wrapped, seemingly impervious Swiss chocolate bar on the coffee table would be a good idea?

Despite the occasional slip-up, I'm no pushover when it comes to sweets.  After putting the chocolate bar under lock and key, it was time to get Mimi ready for bed.  Changed, bottled, and brushed, she was ready to go.  As we walked through the kitchen, Mimi remembered where I'd stashed the chocolate.  She definitely has a sweet tooth.

It took a little prying, and a little crying, but I eventually got her away from the cupboard and off to bed.  I know she needs the calories, but even I can't justify giant chocolate bars for toddlers after ten.