Pah-tah, pah-tah, pah-tah!!!

Our little Monkey is still quite the picky eater. His tastes change from day to day, so what is devoured one day is ignored the next. Just when I think something is a hit, he ignores it the next time I make it and proves me wrong. From what I understand this is fairly typical toddler behavior, but gracious...it's hard to stay on my toes when it comes to cooking. I've been doing great with the weekly meal planning, but his pickiness makes it tricky to plan meals for him. So on nights I KNOW dinner will be snubbed (anything with chicken), I usually fix him his favorite meal: pasta with red sauce. I really think this boy could eat his weight in shells, spaghetti, ravioli, or ziti! If he sees me put a pot on the stove, he immediately thinks I'm boiling water to make him pasta, which elicits tons of excited screaming:

"Pah-tah, pah-tah, pah-tah!"

This is usually accompanied with him hopping around the kitchen in a Snoopy-like dance, unable to contain the excitement. I need to record that sometime. LOL!

This past month we've been focusing on practicing with our utensils. Those little baby forks and spoons have been a bit challenging for his little hands. I think sometimes the handles are too fat for him to manuever. So I found a set of cocktail forks and spoons at Target, which are perfectly sized for Monkey hands. They seem to be a little easier for him to grasp.

Concentrate, focus, poke that food...



...and if you don't get it, just put it on the fork with your other hand.



And if the food makes it to your mouth...



...have a party and celebrate!



Tonight he ate FOUR bowls of pasta, which probably would equal about two servings of what I would eat. I'm not sure which side it's from, but we're pretty convinced that this guy has some Italian running through those veins!