Eli, Mr. Slim, can EAT!

Eli has been an eating machine the last few weeks... you'd never know it to look at him, but this kid pretty much eats all day long. I jotted down his foods (at least for the morning) for the past few days just to share.

(And Becky, you're going to laugh, because he eats HALF of what your boys eat and I still think it's a lot. Shout out to their amazing endless pits.)

Yesterday:

7:30am: 4 mini waffles, a bowl of mangoes, 3 large slices of watermelon

8:10: A large bowl of craisins (the red ones)

8:15: A large bowl of raisins

8:45: A cereal bar

9:30: A good portion of pretzel goldfish

11:30: (he had been whining for food earlier, but we were out) A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a CliffKids fruit rope, a Cliffkids chocolate chip bar, a baby pouch (he wants them cause Liam had one) of veggies.

Lost track of the rest of the day, but you get the idea.

Today:

7:15am: 4 mini waffles, a bowl of blueberries, 1/2 of a plum

8:45: Another set of 4 mini waffles

9:20: About 1/4 of a mini watermelon, a bowl of blueberries

10:30 or so: A bowl of dried cherries

11:45: Lunch: an asian pear, more blueberries, some puffs he stole from Liam, a whole wheat burrito wrap, a slice of provolone cheese

He took a looong nap today

3:45: a granola bar

5:30: Dinner (light...he's not so big on dinners). No meat cause of Lent, but he rarely eats meat anyway. We can get an occasional chicken nugget or beef empanada in him, but that's pretty much it for meat. So tonight he had: a bowl of mini red/orange/yellow peppers (couldn't believe he ate them. He thought they were Spider-Man rings, so we ran with that), a few slices of mangoes, a bowl of blueberries (when he gets on a kick, he gets on a kick), 4 mashed potato/french fry smiley faces.

His morning is basically a looong stretch of continuous eating, with breaks to play. And no, he won't sit still enough to eat more at a time. But hey - that's the way it's supposed to be for optimal health, right? Frequent smaller meals.

He does definitely have a toddler diet and frequently tells me that he doesn't like something before he even tries it, but I have to hand it to the kid... he does try a LOT. He will rarely eat more than a bite of something that's new, but 8 times out of 10, he'll try something that we ask him to try. Yes, it usually takes bribery (most often with a yogurt pop...something he thinks is a dessert, but is actually just a yogurt stick frozen), but I'm pretty proud of him. His diet is very fruit-heavy...always has been...and aside from grapefruit and blood oranges, he will eat any fruit you give him. Veggies...he's decent. He'll eat broccoli always, peas 70% of the time (more if I tell him that Liam forgot how to eat peas and I need Eli to SHOW him how to do it...mwahahaha), peppers sometimes, asparagus very occasionally, corn on the cob 80% of the time, spinach 95% of the time, carrots 75% of the time (especially if I talk up how CRUNCHY they are and emphasize that I want to hear the crunch).

He's only allowed to drink water and milk, something I have always felt very strongly about. Juice is empty calories and I'd much rather him drink water. It's cheaper and better for him. And hey - it's not like he needs the fruit, so I can't even justify that! I would love for him to stay away from juice for as long as possible.

His favorite snack foods: goldfish (which he has for EVERY car trip... I think I've Pavlov conditioned him to need goldfish when we drive), peanut butter crackers, raisins, Cliffbars, CliffKid Fruit ropes, "a square" of bread...and many others.

He DEFINITELY has his mommy's sweet tooth and would eat ice cream, cookies, cake, etc every day if we let him. He thinks the sole purpose of having a birthday is to have cake, and if he hears that it's anyone's birthday, he will say "Can Eli have cake?" He knows that his birthday is "May 12vthhh" and that "I'm going to have CAKE!"

We've discovered recently that he likes fish, so Mike has been sharing whenever he has it. I've also been pushing new foods on him that have amazing superpowers. For instance, I have him TOTALLY convinced that beans (pinto and black, so far) can make him jump REALLY high every time he eats them. He is a good pasta eater, but when he's not, I tell him that pasta makes you run REALLY REALLY fast.

Oh, good times. :)