Eat Your Carrots

Two nights ago Liam was eating all of the little carrot pieces out of the rice from Muchas Gracias. So tonight Mac decided to add cooked carrots to our menu - steamed with a little bit of brown sugar.

I pretty much only eat carrots cooked to a mush and pureed either into a soup or a sauce, but if it meant my kids would eat more veggies, I would play along and eat a few bites of orange dirt-root, too (well, after slipping half of my serving onto Mac's plate).

Both kids immediately declared the side dish "disgusting." Mac told them he wouldn't make carrots again (hurray!) but they each had to have three bites tonight.

Megan ate hers with a grimace, but few complaints, but Liam wouldn't touch his. So Mac gathered all three small bites on a fork and shoved then into Liam's mouth. His initial response was to spit them out but we told him he couldn't.

So he sat there with his mouth open, carrots exposed for the next five minutes. We told him to chew; he made one mash and started to scream. We gave Liam some milk and told him to wash them down. He drank all the milk but held the carrots in his cheek. We implored him to swallow. He closed his mouth for a second and then made a little gag - the carrots were still in his mouth.

"Liam, just swallow the carrots!" Mac ordered. Liam closed his mouth and made a little swallow, followed by a burp and big up-chuck of carrots and partially digested milk all over his shirt and table, thus ending the battle of the carrots and our dinner.

Liam 1, carrots (and parents) 0.

We have all agreed that carrots no longer have a place on our dinner menu.