Hey Mikey!

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Do you remember that old Life cereal commercial where the older kids are talking about their little brother Mikey?

"He won't eat it. He hates everything."

Then Mikey gobbles down the cereal and the brother yell "Hey Mikey".

Mo has always been kinda Mikey -- hates to try new foods. Then yesterday.....

I was chatting over the back fence with my neighbors and we all started picking and eating blueberries off their bush as we talked.

Mo started eating the blueberries, loving the blueberries, wanting more.

Then last night because it was hot I decided on a cold cuts dinner. I bought a huge platter of fresh cut fruit (canetelope, watermelon, honeydew, pineapple, strawberries and blueberries) along with some meats and cheeses (smoked salmon, sopresetta, ham, asiago, cheddar, gouda, cream cheese) some bread and some crackers.

He ate EVERYTHING.

Do kids just kind of snap out of the finicky mode and start trying stuff?

Was the novelty of a picnic dinner just fun enough to get him to try new things?

What's going on here?

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That reminds me in an odd way of this story about the child who never talked. His parents had all but given up trying to get him to talk as all medical evidence indicated that there was no reason for his not talking.

One day at the family's Sunday meal, this silent 16-yr-old boy upon taking his first bite spit out the food and exclaimed, "Yuck! This food sucks!"

His parents, totally aghast and incredulous, "Johnny, you spoke, you spoke! How wonderful! But, Johnny, why haven't you spoken for all these years?"

Johnny replied, "The food's been pretty good up until now!"

So, perhaps the child, in reverse, being that his appetite has been peaked by all that luscious fruit appetizer, had his taste buds peaked, and consumed all the food in sight? Maybe he was challenged, finally, by everyone else's opinion of all those tasty foods and festivity, decided to experiment.

Hell, after reading what you served, my mouth is watering! Laughing

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His tongue grew up.

That's what we always told SonofEva. When we wanted him to try something he hadn't tried in several years (and "hated"), we suggest that maybe his tongue has grown up enough now to appreciate it. "That's why grown ups like different kinds of food than kids do," we explain.

Works like a charm.

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I'd vote with the novelty thing. That is why a child that won't eat a certain food or dish at home, but seems to love it at a friend's house.

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I'll bet he had diahhrea.

ragman, I've always liked that joke...from the other thread about the restaurant I had going the other day, I'll bet you can guess that Mr. Tea's communication style.

soups cold.

whoa, you never talked before.

soups never been cold. Laughing

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He's probably going to start a growth spurt. Be prepared for new shoes in late August and if he shows any signs of nearsightedness, get his eyes checked.

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It was a good meal, ragman!

I'm a pretty good cook but getting Mo to try new thing is hard. It usually takes several attempts. Last night he devoured a multitude of new things. It was great. And no diahhrea!

Maybe it was just a combination of the novelty and a growing up tongue.

But this growth spurt thing..... that has me hooked.

Are there behavior changes associated with growth spurts?

What exactly is behind a "spurt", physiologically speaking?

I'm going to measure him today and we'll recheck it at the end of August.

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Re: Hey Mikey!

boomerang wrote:

Do kids just kind of snap out of the finicky mode and start trying stuff?

Yes.

Think of it in evolutionary terms. Babies put everything in their mouths, but are pretty much always close to a parent.

By three, they've stopped putting everything in their mouths, just when they start having more mobility.

Lots of kids are finicky eaters at that point.

Then they start trying more stuff again, when they're old enough to recognize dangers.

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One of my stepsons was not only a picky eater, he cultivated the persona of a picky eater.

In adolescence he became more adventurous--but had the problem of discarding his persona.

"Growth spurt" was a very useful concept then, also.

Growth spurts do exist--and do account for broadening kids tastes.

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Noddy24 wrote:

Growth spurts do exist--and do account for broadening kids tastes.

Not denying it. One of the girls will go for weeks with a mediocre appetite, then suddenly start cleaning everything off of her plate and sleeping and extra hour every night.

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Science catches up to age-old beliefs about children's growth

http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/erarchive/1999/March/ermarch.1/3_1_99lampl.html

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Hey Mikey!

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