Proof That The Second May Be More Stubborn Than the First

Lunch today: Leftover Creamy Herb & Garlic Brown Rice Pasta with Broccoli

The other night, my kids loved it. Okay, the broccoli part, not so much, but at least they both ate their required number of broccoli bites without a fuss.

Today at lunch, Jude put up a substantial fuss about eating his broccoli. However, after much coaxing and encouragement, did manage to choke down the 5 required pieces.

Since Noah is younger, I only made him eat three. Although he balked at the first one, he seemingly ingested the second two pieces with no trouble at all. He got down from the lunch table around 1:30. (We started at 1.)

At 2:00, when I was taking him for a potty break, I noticed he still had a piece of broccoli in his mouth! He had been keeping it in his cheek like a little chipmunk that is hoarding for the winter. I told him to eat it, then left him to let him pull up his pants and finish the potty routine, since he is getting pretty self-sufficient at it.

Fifteen minutes later, while he and Jude were playing, I noticed that he still had not one but TWO pieces of broccoli in his mouth. This is the point when I made him sit on the kitchen floor where I could watch him until he finally chewed them up and ate them.

The tears. The drama. The wails. The unrelenting mother.

There were sternly given commands. Still he wouldn't eat them. There were spanks. Still he would not eat them. There were gently given explanations (like you can explain anything to a 2-year-old.) Still, those pieces remained firmly planted in his mouth. Jude was allowed to go put a movie on. Still, he stubbornly sat there with the soggy vegetables rolling around on his tongue--and I believe that they were probably truly disgusting by this point.

Finally, no less than ONE HOUR after being told to sit there until he ate them (so, nearly two hours since they went into his mouth in the first place!), they managed to move from his mouth to his stomach. (I think. I didn't see him chew and swallow, but so far I haven't found them hiding under any furniture or in the garbage can.)

And I thought Jude was stubborn. HAH!

You gotta watch out for those quiet ones.
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