munchkin meals: 20 months

I wish I could say that MacKenna’s meals have changed since last month’s, but my picky little girl is, well, still a picky little girl.  But, I feel like she is getting better.  She seems to be eating more and *gasp* actually enjoying eating some fruits and vegetables!  Does that mean she chooses fruits and veggies over crackers and yogurt?  Heavens no.  But, she is voluntarily putting those foods in her mouth more and more, and – the big shocker – NOT taking them out with a disgusted look on her face!  I say that’s a win!

My plan for MacKenna’s 20 month munchkin meals was to take some before and after pictures of MacKenna’s meals.  But, alas, I have plenty before pictures and only 1 after picture.  Oops.  However, the meal that I did happen to get an after of was probably one of the best meals she’s eaten in awhile!

(Side note:  If I would have thought about it ahead of time, I would have taken pictures of MacKenna’s meals while we were on vacation, but I didn’t.  Sorry!  They really weren’t much different than her meals at home, so I don’t think you’re missing out on too much.)

Her breakfasts are ALWAYS a waffle with peanut butter and a tube of GoGurt yogurt.  She will eat anywhere from a quarter of a waffle to the whole thing depending on the day.  My other thing I’ve been trying to do is give her a smoothie every.  She prefers it to be made with juice over milk, but I’m happy that she’s getting more fruit and some greens in her little body.

Lately, for lunches I’ve been making her either a grilled cheese and avocado sandwich (sometimes I’ll add lunch meat if we have some) or peanut butter and jelly.  She seems to like this so much more than the tasting tray, and I’m OK with that!  Quick and easy with a good source of fat and protein.  I try to give her some fruit or veggies on the side, but those are still a struggle.

This is her lunch from Monday:  a grilled cheese and avocado sandwich, 2 Flip Side crackers, 1 strawberry, and a few slices of avocado.

And this is the after picture:

Pretty gosh darn good if you ask me!  I was really proud of her after this meal.  She also had far less snacks between breakfast and lunch, which I’m sure made a difference.

Dinners are always the worst meal.  Too much snacking too close to dinner (she wakes up from her nap around 3:30 or 4, eats a snack, and we eat dinner at 6).  We’ve been trying to keep her leftover lunch (if she has any) for her to finish for her snack, but she protests that quite a bit.  Matt and I usually snack with her and she loves to eat bites off our plates – and at dinner too.  I don’t get why she would rather have it off our plates when she has the exact same thing on hers.  Silly baby. 

I’d say we had progress this month!  Makes me a much happier mama!  She’s recently started dipping things (mostly fries into ketchup while on vacation – and just licking the ketchup off; I’m pretty sure this has something to do with my ketchup addiction while I was pregnant), so I’m planning on giving her more things to dip!  And I should have a yummy dip recipe for you guys in the next week or so!  YUM!

Oh, and the occasional ice cream for dessert.  Can’t forget that! ;) (She very rarely gets dessert.  I will give her a graham cracker with peanut butter if she ate really well at dinner and acts like she wants more, but otherwise, only when we go out for ice cream does she get dessert!)

Don’t forget to head on over to Brittany’s blog to check out what the other munchkins are eating this month!