hunger games

The war with food is raging full force once again in the Cole household! First, it was Eva. If I remember right, it wasn't all that bad with her. This is because we are blessed with a little girl who loves to eat, and really, I have to work hard to think of foods she's not all that into. She gulps, she's messy, she's lightning speed, she'll eat anything. Next, it was Elijah. Now there was a battle. You might remember when I posted a picture of Elijah sitting at the table trying to finish his food, and how he ending up falling asleep causing him to fall off his chair. Just so everyone knows, I did feel terrible about the whole thing. But he did get the point, and shortly after, he began to finish his plate. He was stubborn, but I am more stubborn, and now he is a pretty good eater. Not good like Eva, that's for sure, but pretty good. The thing about Elijah is that he's just the opposite of Eva. Elijah eats in slow motion, even with a chocolate chip cookie. He nibbles, he's clean, he's slow, he doesn't eat all that much. And then there's Zach. He is just plain picky. He'll stuff it down fast if it's food he likes (reminding me of Eva). He'll sit there forever with a bite in his mouth if he doesn't like it (reminding me of Elijah). But by now, I'm worn out. I'm pretty tired of these food battles. Or maybe I should call them hunger games with Zach, because I keep giving him the same meal over and over again until his hunger triumphs over his dislike, and he eats it all down. It's not like it's gross food. It's great food actually. Over here, it's all fresh, made from scratch, takes mom hours to make. It's not like I'm going to make a new run to the market, buy new fresh produce, spend another couple hours, and make a new special dish. It's just not that easy over here with the open air markets and all. So Zachers, bless your little heart, it hurts right now, but later on, you're going to triumph over the food games. You're going to eat it all and love most of it.  Hopefully. You're going to travel with us to the states, to Thailand, to Laos, and whatever other globe hopping you do one day, and you'll have conquered the food battle. At least that's what I tell myself. No pain, no gain, right? I love you, Zach! And your cute dimples. You don't know it yet, but if you smile at me with those cute dimples, you might just get your way and get a new meal. You'll be catching onto that one pretty soon, so let's get moving and conquer these hunger games, ok? Okay, mom.