Music to My Ears

Last night as the kids were coming to the table for dinner, I was putting a plate of roasted asparagus on the table. Abby clapped her little hands and exclaimed, "Oh, goodie! Yummy asparagus!" She's such a joy to feed. She has very few dislikes, and even then she will eat it without a fuss if I tell her to.

Ryan, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. He is incredibly picky! Our house rule for meals is you have to have at least one bite of everything, and then if you don't like it, you don't have to eat any more (hubby and I both were forced to eat things that literally made us gag, so this is our compromise). However, if you don't eat a small portion of most everything (more than a bite!), you cannot have seconds on the stuff you do like. We also never force them to eat things that we can tell truly make them gag (not the fake gagging!)...for Ryan, that's cantaloupe of all things.

So last night when Ryan took his obligatory bite of asparagus and proclaimed he liked it, we were speechless! I've made it many times before, but last night he decided he actually liked it, probably because he ate the tip end instead of the stem end like he usually does. He even was able to eat the Balsalmic Chicken and Mushrooms without a fuss, then with his one bite of Herbed Wild Rice Pilaf, he got to have a second roll...almost an unheard of event for him.

Abby of course had seconds on everything, and she wanted thirds on the asparagus but it was all gone.