For Michael's birthday, I decided to make split pea soup, one of his favorites. The kids hate it, but they were willing to sacrifice to please their Daddy.
I knew that I could only ask so much of them. To Eleanor, I gave a bowl with only peas in it---no noticeable carrots or ham. To Amanda I gave a bowl with a minimum of peas, and lots of carrots. Luke got more soup than his sisters combined, but I added an ice cube.
Eleanor proceeded to take every last small piece of onion, ham, parsley and carrot out of her broth and put it on her plate. She then ate all the peas and 6 cold carrots. What was most amazing was her restraint in talking about it. She even managed a "yummy!" to encourage her brother to eat the soup---she's starting to realize that she can think what she wants, but if she makes gross noises and complains at the table, encouraging her brother to imitate, her mother will be unhappy. She then cleared her dish, without being prompted. Her circumspect behavior may have had to do with the strawberry pie I had made for dessert.
Amanda took one bite of soup, made a face and a noise, and changed tactics. She put the carrots on her plate, carried them one by one to the bathroom sink, where she washed off the pea soup. Then she carried them back to the table and ate them happily, with a fork. She also ate two biscuits. (She didn't get any pie, but that was for another infraction, unrelated to soup.)
At first Luke refused the soup, but I think he was hungry since he didn't eat lunch. Luke saw his sisters spooning their soup out of the bowl, and decided to do the same. He would spoon a few lumps out onto his plate---as the soup cools, it gets thick enough not to make a mess---and then eat it from the plate. He repeated this until all the soup was gone. He ate a large biscuit, and then went over to the cooling rack and tried to grab two more. (He also didn't get pie, but that was because he had been up since 5:40 with only a 10 minute nap.)
Sorry, Michael, but I think I won't be having split pea soup for dinner again for a while---unless you want to make it.
I knew that I could only ask so much of them. To Eleanor, I gave a bowl with only peas in it---no noticeable carrots or ham. To Amanda I gave a bowl with a minimum of peas, and lots of carrots. Luke got more soup than his sisters combined, but I added an ice cube.
Eleanor proceeded to take every last small piece of onion, ham, parsley and carrot out of her broth and put it on her plate. She then ate all the peas and 6 cold carrots. What was most amazing was her restraint in talking about it. She even managed a "yummy!" to encourage her brother to eat the soup---she's starting to realize that she can think what she wants, but if she makes gross noises and complains at the table, encouraging her brother to imitate, her mother will be unhappy. She then cleared her dish, without being prompted. Her circumspect behavior may have had to do with the strawberry pie I had made for dessert.
Amanda took one bite of soup, made a face and a noise, and changed tactics. She put the carrots on her plate, carried them one by one to the bathroom sink, where she washed off the pea soup. Then she carried them back to the table and ate them happily, with a fork. She also ate two biscuits. (She didn't get any pie, but that was for another infraction, unrelated to soup.)
At first Luke refused the soup, but I think he was hungry since he didn't eat lunch. Luke saw his sisters spooning their soup out of the bowl, and decided to do the same. He would spoon a few lumps out onto his plate---as the soup cools, it gets thick enough not to make a mess---and then eat it from the plate. He repeated this until all the soup was gone. He ate a large biscuit, and then went over to the cooling rack and tried to grab two more. (He also didn't get pie, but that was because he had been up since 5:40 with only a 10 minute nap.)
Sorry, Michael, but I think I won't be having split pea soup for dinner again for a while---unless you want to make it.
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