The way to a boy's heart is through his tummy?

Last night when I was putting Nicholas to bed, he pronounced:

"My tummy is called the land of happiness."

This is exactly the type of random thought that often comes out of his mouth, prompting me to laugh in delight. Sometimes I think he says these things to be funny. But sometimes he bursts into tears, commanding me not to laugh at him. It's very difficult to know how to react. I tell him I'm only laughing at him because he's so cute, but he doesn't seem to buy that. He's very sensitive!

What is particularly funny about this comment is that Nicholas is the only truly picky eater in our family. We eat a lot of ethnic food, and the other boys have always loved a wide variety of foods, including Japanese, Indian, and Thai (although of course none of them are truly crazy about vegetables). But Nicholas is notoriously fussy about anything green, seedy, nutty, or otherwise mysterious straying onto his plate. He used to eat the spinach ravioli from Costco, but no more. He also used to devour strawberry bars from Trader Joe's, but doesn't like those any more (to my relief, since they were not organic and strawberries carry high levels of pesticides).

A friend asked on Facebook what Nicholas had last night for dinner. The answer is homemade macaroni and cheese (as in boil pasta; add sauce made out of parmesan cheese, milk, cream cheese, and butter; and stir). To my relief, all the boys including Nicholas liked it--it's difficult to predict sometimes! Before bedtime he ate an apple (cut and peeled) and then demanded a turkey sandwich or cinnamon toast. I told him he could have some string cheese, guessing he would reject it (he used to love string cheese but lately has turned his nose up at it!), and he actually ate it. Maybe he's getting hungrier and less picky? One can only dream.


This is his preferred diet:

Cheese pizza
Hummous and rice crackers (he's very picky about his crackers and once I made homemade hummous, but he rejected that!)
Turkey sandwiches (crusts cut off)
Cinnamon toast
Apples
Grapes
Vanilla ice cream (or commonly called valilla)
Milk
Chocolate milk
Cookies, candy, and sweets (but nothing too far out!)
Apple juice

Macaroni and cheese (but only fresh; no leftovers)
Cheese quesadillas
Tortilla chips
Nachos
Chicken and turkey, if cooked simply with no fancy sauces
Frozen yogurt tubes (strawberry, preferably)
Salmon
Shrimp
Hot dogs
Milkshakes
Chicken fingers (which we try to give him only from good places!)
French fries and tater tots

Now that I list all these things, I see that we actually are fairly lucky compared to some families with picky eaters. At least the list contains more than 20 items. He has been known to enjoy beef when he's had it at my parents' house, too, but we don't cook it much at home.

In the meantime, this one has become a vegetarian--this is his fourth attempt, and he's lasted five days now, nearly a record. I think the fact that he's tried to go veggie so many times means that eventually it will truly take!

But he does love his cheeseburgers. We'll see how he does. :)