Salted Fish

For those of you who know Brian, you know he's the originator of my picky eaters. He started out so promising back in the days of baby food. He ate everything I put in his mouth - even spinach! When we went to solid foods, he was still pretty good at eating. I'm not sure when the pickiness started, but it took hold of Brian and hasn't let go. His influence is long as he's helped Sean and Colin turn from really good eaters into the picky boys they are today.

My dad told Brian that the best birthday present he could give to Gramma & Grampa would be to start eating "grownuper" food. Who knew that the day after he turned 5 he would be chowing down on fish! We had grilled some tilapia on our new grill. Chris made one fillet plain for the boys, and the others he put some lime juice and McCormick's Montreal Chicken spices on. Dinner was proceeding as usual - Chris and I eating, and the boys ignoring everything on their plates but the fruit. We asked Brian to try the fish. He told us he wanted blue fish with a mouth. I tried to explain to him that even if the fish was blue to start with that the blue part would be scraped off before you cook it. Next he asked for salted fish with a mouth. Again, the explanation of how he really wouldn't want a fish with a mouth on his plate. Finally, he said he would like fish like "you guys". Chris went and got the other fillet and put it on Brian's plate. We had to pick our jaws up off the floor as Brian started to chow down on his fish. I really tried to not make a big deal of it while he was eating - I didn't want to distract Brian and have him stop eating! At one point, Brian tried to get Sean to try the fish "Sean, just try it, it's good." - I had to laugh at the irony. Hopefully this new Brian will continue and his influence on his brothers can turn the tide back to some good eaters!

PS - Brian later told Chris that he would eat "salted fish" anytime we made it. I'm seeing a weekly fish meal in our future...