Picky Eaters

I'm not really sure how it started... Maybe I was a little too concerned about keeping him clean? Maybe I was a little too lazy for a bit? Maybe it has NOTHING to do with me! But somehow... over time... the kid who would once eat just about anything has turned into a picky eater. My current not-so-top-secret project is to break Mason of this. But Mason is NOTHING if not stubborn. (Don't know WHERE he could have possibly gotten THAT!) At one point he had backed himself down to eating about nothing but Cheerios, Goldfish, and Bananas. That was around Christmas.. when I drew the line. Since then we've worked on and off to get him to eat more. And he is eating more... but we're still not to the point where we put food in front of him and he'll eat just whatever. I think ALOT of his problem in this area has to do with new textures. The kid isn't a big fan of textures... ground beef... forget it. Yes, I have a 3 yr old who will NOT eat a hamburger or french fries! It's not that I really WANT him to want those things, but I'd like to expand his horizons and to be able to go out to eat and know he'll eat something besides crackers! Tonight we had a bit of a breakthrough with turkey meatloaf. I put it on his plate a couple of days ago and got nothing, but tonight he ate about half of it... not much, but it's a START! I also had a big breakthrough on apples. (I know - what kid won't eat an apple?!) He bit into pieces of it a few times and spent a great deal of time sucking on the apple pieces... so it's a start! I just have to fight, fight, FIGHT with this kid and starve him out! As one friend said, "My dr said my job is to provide my children with a good, nutritious meal - what they decide to do with it once it's in front of them is their call!". No more short order cook...