take it or leave it

what to do when ellery loves nearly every single food in creation but wants to assert her dominance & control over her own life & refuses to eat it?

last night she happily scarfed a full cup of cold/plain peas as a snack a couple hours before dinner, inhaled  mushroom ravioli, & then threw one insano trip when i gave her butternut squash with brown sugar on the top.

yep.

sugared squash!!

45 minutes later & countless tears, she finally consumed a tiny stringy piece of the squash, we erupted in applause & our happy, sane toddler returned to us.

so what do people do?? she has to keep eating well & if she starts refusing anytime it's not a regular item on our menu that's not gonna work for me.

my mama had two dinner options: take it or leave it.

not always my favorite but it teaches you not to be picky & to be one adventurous eater. i don't want to make it this horrendous experience, especially when she does so well eating literally anything! but if she doesn't feel like it- we fight tooth & nail. & it's usually because she doesn't remember having it before. i felt sooooo bad for her last night. i don't want to say, it's up to her if she doesn't want it. but i also don't want to make her clear her plate just to assert my dominance. she's still a bit young to explain to real well so maybe wait? but i don't want to start a precedence now that i won't like later.

hmmm. what do people do?

p.s. she gobbling down last night's squash as we speak. with no sugar. maybe i found the key? :)