Kid Quirks

Every kid has their little quirks. One of Bentley's big quirks is his eating habits. He's very picky about what and when he eats. Some days he won't try new food. Some days he will. Often he eats breakfast, but not every day. He likes rice and pasta, but sometimes after asking you to cook it, he won't eat it. Kids--what do you do!?

This is Bentley's latest food quirk: he likes to measure out--using his little hands--the uncooked pasta into his bowl. The BLUE bowl. Sometimes green will do, but never pink or purple or orange.

After he measures out the pasta, we cook it and he eats it--or not. He usually measures out three or four times what he will eat. We cook it all and save it for next time he's visiting and wants pasta. The problem is that next time he comes over he insists on getting the pasta from the jar. Already cooked pasta from the fridge is not acceptable.

So we let him measure the pasta out and then we do a switch-a-roo and heat the pasta from the fridge up in the microwave. His meal is ready in 45 seconds instead of the 12-15 minutes that is required for uncooked pasta. So far he hasn't figure out our strategy. You'd think the shortened cooking time would clue him in, but young children aren't yet a slave to time like us adults.

Here's a shot of Bentley digging out his pasta:


Needless to say, whenever he gets out the jar his siblings come to help.


This photo is deceptive. It looks like the children are happily playing together. Not really. It's just seconds until Viva finds herself sprawling flat on her back and Jake is shoved out of range of the jar. Last night I put Bentley on the counter to sort out his pasta so that we could avoid another mini-war.