Show Us Your Life - What your toddler eats?

Over at Kelly's Korner, she is having a blog hop today on what you feed your children. I try to feed Little Love as much organic food as possible. We do a lot of shopping at Costco and they have a really great selection of organic / natural foods. I typically, purchase the Kirkland brand all natural frozen chicken breasts and the organic ground beef from there. I actually try and get about 90% of my meat from there due to their great prices and fabulous selection on the kinds of food I like to purchase for my family.





For breakfast, we do a lot of cereal or oatmeal with fruit. She also loves biscuits and eggs that I try to do at least twice a week to give her a more healthy option and keep her full longer. I'm not opposed to cereal bars either but I just try to limit them to once a week or so. When possible, I try to steer clear of foods with high fructose corn syrup or things with lot's of additives. She has probably only had juice about a handful of times her whole life and just prefers milk and water which I LOVE! Makes my job so much easier.







For lunch, we typically do grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadilla's, Peanut butter and Jelly or lunch meat with cheese, Natural Cheetos, and yogurt or fruit. She does really struggle to eat a ton of variety but for the most part she will eat what I put in front of her. I think the problem with variety is my fault not hers :(





Little Love loves to eat fruit snacks and although I cave on occasion and let her pick out some Disney brand while at Target, I try and purchase the Annie's Homegrown brand as much as possible. They still aren't super nutritious or anything but Little Love is such a snacker that I try to have semi healthy options for her to choose from.



Another thing that she likes to do and helps me out, especially with Little Man around now, is she has a cabinet of her own to choose snacks from. I only place things in her cabinet that I don't mind her having pretty much anytime of day. She can ask me at any point for a snack and if it's not close to meal time I let her have the autonomy to pick out what she wants. She loves it and it is such a huge help!



I've had one rule since Little Love was small, and that is; I will not make her something special to eat each night, she must eat what Clay and I are having. Now, don't get me wrong, if what Clay and I are eating is spicy or something I don't want her having, I will make an exception to the rule but for the most part, she must eat what she is served. I am not a short order cook and will not make accommodations for her. I decided to do this when she first was able to eat what we were because it makes life easier for all of us. I didn't want her palate to just consist of macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets. I have so many friends who have children that won't eat anything else and I didn't want Little Love to be that way.

The other big thing I have learned was when I was at a women's bible study a couple summer's ago. They had a nutritionist come in and talk to us about healthy foods for our children and what kind of expectations we should have for them. She suggested that they must at least taste each kind of food on their plates. She said that she even felt that licking or even the smallest bite to be acceptable when trying a new food. She also said that sometimes it can take as long as 6-8 times when introducing new foods to your child.