Green Eggs

Part of Jack's new found independent thinking has included a distaste for all things egg related. Last month he loved to eat eggs; this month he curls up his lip before even tasting them. He could not have picked a worse food to dislike since Caleb and I frequently eat eggs at every meal: Scrambled with grits for breakfast, sunny-side-up on bread for lunch, and our favorite, tossed in with our noodles for dinner. Having Jack refuse to eat eggs just isn't an option for us so we have repeatedly tried to disguise the eggs and trick him into eating them. So far it hasn't worked. Last week I caught Jack methodically pulling apart his sandwich at lunch. With a look of disgust he discarded the scrambled egg onto his highchair tray, then put the meat, cheese and bread back together and ate it. Are all babies this smart?! I decided it was time for a different approach so that night at dinner I mixed a few drops of food coloring into his egg before I scrambled it. I intended for it to be blue, but blue + yellow = green. How ironic. We watched as he picked up a clump of "green eggs" and inspected it carefully. Thinking he might need some encouragement or a demonstration, Caleb forked a bite off Jackson's plate and ate it himself saying "Yum, it's good Jackson." We both held our breath as Jackson watched Caleb then thoughtfully considered his own egg again. I thought he was just about to shove it in his mouth, but instead he flung out his arm and with a huge grin triumphantly offered it to Caleb. We just had to laugh. He was so proud of himself for finding the perfect solution: 'If Daddy likes them so much then he should eat them.' Guess it's going to take more than food coloring to get this boy to eat his eggs.