Kids say the darndest things!

Tonight I made baked mahi mahi fillets for my fish eating family. I don't eat fish. But, they all ate it and they liked it! There's only one caveat to that. Ethan. I used cream sherry and garlic infused olive oil. I used garlic pepper and put rosemary on top.

It turned out great. It smelled good, albeit not good enough for me to partake. I just don't like fish. I wish I liked fish. But it is a dish that is not delish - at least to me. That's it for my rhyming ability, I'll leave that talent to Peter.

The point to all this is that Ethan and Jonathon made some hilarious comments about the fish. I served Rice-a-roni broccoli au gratin rice with the fish and forgot the veggies on the stove - whoops! I served leftover spaghetti to Aeron and Ethan knowing they would not go for the fish. Ethan did have some rice which he liked.

To get to the point, Jonathon liked the fish and was trying to clear his plate of his serving of rice so he could have some spaghetti. I need to tell you that my son Jonathon has NO table manners. You would think from watching him eat he was raised by a pack of wolves. He chooses to ignore table manners and often uses his hands to shove food in his mouth.

What happens next is key. Jonathon had just finished shoving food in his mouth and I had just finished shaking my head in dismay at his table manners. I made a comment about it and no sooner had I finished saying it, I saw his hands in his plate picking up more food. Next Peter got in on the action and chastised him. This made Jonathon frustrated and he said, "Dad, I was just picking the grass off my plate." Jon had this stricken and offended look on his face as he said it. How dare we his parents put grass on his plate and expect him to eat it. It took me a minute to figure out he was referring to the rosemary I put on the fish for seasoning. It was hilarious.

Ethan then joined in on the conversation and pointed out to me that grass doesn't belong in our food. When he says fish he pronounces it more like "pitch." Ethan totally cracked me up. He was so serious as he said it as he pointed to the baking dish and then to me. Ethan is very expressive when he speaks and uses a lot of gestures. Gesturing is one of the ways he compensates for his speech difficulties. There have been many, many times that we couldn't understand him and it was only by his repeated gesturing and speaking (much to his frustration) that we were able to contextually figure out what he was saying.

So that's my little entry about the things children say. It may not be that funny to you but it sure was to me. It was shocking to some of my kidlets that I used a spice in their food that resembles grass. Someday some of my children will appreciate the effort it takes to cook... I don't know about Ethan, he may never come around and that's ok.

We are training them up well. They definitely will not have my seafood aversions. And, I am proud to report that they tolerate a wide range of foods and for the most part are not terribly picky eaters... except for Ethan. Teaching kids good eating habits is hard work and takes REPEATED attempts after REPEATED refusals. The key to it all is to keep trying!

I think that's a good motto for us all regardless of the situation: Keep Trying!!