Hungry, Anyone?

One of the reasons I started this blog was to capture some of the milestones and nuances of the boys' childhoods that I am miserably failing at capturing in their (yet unfilled) baby books. To that end (and because I'm perpetually behind on the blog in addition to the baby books now), I thought I'd jot down a few notes on a recent observation.

The boys continue to amaze me by all of the ways all three of them are so completely different from each other - from birth. I think I've said it before, but anyone that questions the theories of nature vs. nurture has clearly never had multiple children.

The most recent way they amaze me is in their VASTLY different eating habits. While they all started out eating pretty much anything I put in front of them in the early days, they quickly developed their own culinary preferences.

Cade has Aaron's built-in junk food regulator and won't overdose on garbage food, but refuses to let a vegetable cross his lips. He will ingest some fruits, such as pineapple and cantaloupe, but fair warning - whatever fruit he likes today will likely be completely unacceptable tomorrow. Also, he shares my extreme distaste for mushy (read: ripe) fruits. When it comes to fruits and veggies, he will only consume apples and oranges on a consistent basis. Eats his sandwiches with peanut butter, no jelly and prefers milk to water. Loves macaroni and cheese and hot dogs.

Drew shares my sweet tooth and penchant for starches. He's a bottomless pit when it comes to junk food and pretty much starts lobbying for snacks about 5 minutes after breakfast has ended. If he can't score a junky snack food, a dinner roll or other bread of some sort will suffice. On the bright side, he'll eat most vegetables and a variety of fruits and will do so with a smile on his face. He's pretty much a vegetarian and has been since he was tiny. Eats his sandwiches with jelly, no peanut butter and prefers water to milk. Won't eat macaroni and cheese or hot dogs.

At only 10 months old, Josh also has food preferences even though he's only been on solids for a few months. Joshie is our carnivore. The kid simply cannot consume enough meat. His three favorite foods are meat of any sort, green peas, and black beans. He doesn't care much for cheese, yogurt, or other dairy items. he has had only had a few splashes of juice and isn't allowed to have cow's milk yet, but seems to prefer water to anything. Isn't allowed to have peanut butter or hot dogs yet and will throw macaroni and cheese on the floor.

Josh and Drew are neck and neck for the Biggest Eater award in our family - if there's one thing that's clear, it's that we will be hard pressed to afford to feed them both when they are teenagers. In the meantime, I'll just continue my fruitless quest to find the perfect meal that all three of them will actually eat.