done!

Today we had grilled cheese for lunch. Very creative of me, I know. Each child had a grilled cheese sandwich, a Dannon yogurt, and a few baby carrots. Monday, their Gramma L was over and she had brought some home made cookies. The Babe asks if she can have a cookie, and I told her if she ate her whole lunch, she could have a cookie. This kind of bribery works wonders on The Babe, and soon afterwards she proudly showed me her empty plate and bowl. She was granted one chocolate-chip-oatmeal cookie.

The Boy has been sitting there just picking at his food the whole time. He is hopeless. This happens a lot lately - I present him with a nice array of food for a meal, he eats maybe two bites, and that's it. But, he sees The Babe has a cookie! Why does she get to have a cookie? I can practically hear the whine in his grunts and gestures. He's obviously jealous, and he obviously wants a cookie.

I gave him a lesser goal than I had given to The Babe. I told The Boy that if he just ate his sandwich, he could have cookie. Forget the yogurt and carrots, kid, please just eat the sandwich. So, he smiles and picks up his sandwich. For a moment I think I must be a genius! It's worked! He's going to eat the sandwich! He picks up the first half of the sandwich, then the second half. He places them nicely on the table, proudly picks up his clean plate to show me, and says, plain as day: "Done!".