Going Green

It's no secret that Michael has not been the best eater. I had tried many things over the last 3 years to get him to eat a variety of foods, you can do all you can but you can't force a child to swallow. I had pretty much decided I wouldn't make much headway until I was home more.
So anyhow, he used to freak out and fall into a crying heap on the floor if something green was placed on his plate. However, he is older now. And he wants things. Mainly toys. So one night we worked out a deal where if he tried 10 new things, he could pick out a new toy at Target. Over the summer we had added corn and lettuce and cucumber to the list of foods he would eat willingly, so I knew he was becoming more open to trying new things. We made a chart and put it on the fridge so he could track his progress. We started out easy- ramen noodles, macaroni and cheese, biscuits, yogurt (yes normal things that most kids his age would eat), and then his motivation for more stickers took over all his previous fears. He wanted to pick the green beans and eat them for dinner! So thanks to Grandpa's hard work at keeping these alive through the summer, they are finally putting out beans!
So we went on a treasure hunt.

Picked them.

Cooked them, and then ate them with dinner! He has since eaten spinach, green pepper, and peas. He sometimes shudders while eating them, but I know the more he has them the more he will get used to the taste. I can't tell you what great progress this is! And what was even better was that he forgot about Target and wanted to pick something out of the prize bag I keep in my closet, so that was way cheaper of a bribe! We are now working on our second set of 10 items.

I guess once you go green, there's no going back!