That's right ... Mommy always wins! :o)

So, dinner time has been quite the struggle as of late. Elizabeth just doesn't want to eat. I put her dinner in front of her, and if it's not hot dogs or mac & cheese, she doesn't want it. My response, "fine." I take the tray away, put her on the floor, and let her go about her evening.

We still haven't cut out night time bottles yet and so my first stab at trying to get her to eat dinner was to cut out any snacks after we get home from daycare. She can only have her sippy cup, but no raisins, crackers, apples ... nothing until dinner. We have been trying this for the past week or so, and not much has changed. My next attempt was to cut down on the amount of milk she got in her night time bottle, and again, didn't make much of a difference.

Last night I told Mark that she was not doing a bottle anymore. Oh boy was he not happy. He hated the fact that I would try and try and try to get her to eat meals that she just wasn't touching and now that I decided she wasn't going to get her bottle at night to help top her off, all he could do was shake his head. First and foremost, I'm not going to be a short order cook, Elizabeth will eat what I prepare, and if she won't, she most definitely will not be getting food that she loves, instead she can have a plain piece of toast and some raisins. Giving into her only spawns a picky eater, and I'm not going to have that! I may make her a separate dinner from what we eat at times, but she still needs to eat what I make her.

Anyways, IT WORKED! I was getting later and later last night, closer and closer to bedtime for Ellie and I didn't get her bottle. She was running around the house crying, in and out of the kitchen, I tried offering her sippy cup, but she knows she has to sit on her bottom to drink it, and she was not going to do that, so, we packed up and went to rock in her bedroom. She was just cranky and cried, so I asked if she was hungry and she signed 'eat' back to me. I was such a proud mommy! I brought her into the kitchen, put her in her high chair and gave her what I had put in front of her almost 2 hours ago for dinner ... and she ate it! (okay, not EVERYTHING, but enough!) She was finished with her black beans and green beans and didn't feel like eating her chicken, so I took the tray away and she started whining again. I asked if she was all done, and she looked at me and signed 'more.' Again, proud mommy! I haven't seen that sign in months, but she knew that she was still hungry, so we ate more beans and a container of yogurt and she slept all night long, with a full tummy, without a bottle.

Mommy - 1
Ellie - 0