Oh the things we will do...

Like many boys his age, Silas is a truck-a-holic. Dump trucks, garbage trucks, cranes, diggers, tractors, big rigs...you name it and we play with it. On my way to Washington to visit my cousins last weekend I had this long road trip by myself. I could not stop from craning into each construction sight to list off the types of vehicles I was seeing...even though I didn't have my eager little boy in the back seat waiting to hear about all the excitement.

In the past, I hate to admit, we have used his love of specific toys to con him into eating more bites of food at meals. It was very exciting to "show" all his trains how he takes big bites of food. They would even "comment" on what a big boy he was to be eating so much. Well, the train trick ran out of steam and Silas is still such a poor eater. It isn't that he's picky so much, it's just that he is WAY too busy to sit down and eat. He typically takes about 3 bites to curb the burning hunger in his stomach and then politely asks to be excused from the table. Well, in order to enjoy our own dinner, for months we have just been letting this happen and allowing him to go play while we finished eating. As he gets older, we are wanting to instill the "family dinner" habits a little stronger, so we decided to require him to just sit with us even if he's done eating, until we are done too. We certainly don't torture him with drawn out dinners, and try to engage him in conversation while we eat to keep him more entertained, but even with the extra time at the table now being a requirement, this kid barely eats a thing! It's a wonder he has energy to make it through the day.
So, every now and again we sink to new levels of trickery and bribery to get some bites of meat or veggies into his tummy. He is not motivated by treats (dessert means nothing to this kid), so making the actual digestion more fun is the best way to go. Last night his tractor was "watching" him eat dinner from the counter. When he declared he was full (after eating a cheese stick and 1 slice of peach while leaving his steak untouched), we let him hold his tractor at the table while we finished our meal. We never MEAN to get into these routines, they just sorta happen...

So Jordan asked him if his tractor could load the steak in his bucket and dump it in Silas' mouth. Silas replies "Oh, that's a good idea, Dad." I was thinking a little something different, until Silas drove his tractor over to his plate, scooped up the meat, dumped it into his mouth, and continued on doing this until ALL of his meat was gone AND he had eaten SECONDS! Midway through, I totally converted to the dark side and grabbed the camera.

We may never be able to eat with him in public...but this was highly exciting for us, at our own kitchen table :)

As you can see, the steak was not his most favorite food to eat, hence the look of torture on his face as he chews. However, it didn't stop him from doing it again and again...so then I got it on video. I know, I know...pathetic. You all have permission to remind me of this years down the road when he wants to eat his food with drum sticks, sit under the table, and be blindfolded.