Munchkin Meals:15 Months

Time for Munchkin Meals again, hosted by A Healthy Slice of Life.

Liam recently turned 15 months, and had a well-baby appointment. He weighed in at 23 pounds 4 ounces, and measured 32 inches tall. The pediatrician is pleased with his development. He "says" 7 words (Mama, Dada, Deh (dog), Nana (banana), Elmo, Keys, Cheese), and recognizes many more.

The one question I had for her was, Liam eats anything and everything at breakfast, gets a little pickier at lunch, and sometimes refuses outright to eat dinner. I don't want to set a precedent of making him his own special meal. Is it harmful to his health or development if he doesn't eat?

The answer was, make sure he gets an adequate amount of fruits, vegetables, protein, whole grains and healthy fats over the course of a week, rather than focusing on a single day. He will not let himself starve.

And when I stepped back and looked at the big picture, he does eat a lot, and eats well.

Breakfast on a typical day is his usual: a banana (sometimes some other fruit if we're ::gasp!:: out of bananas) and a multi-grain waffle, English muffin, whole wheat pancake or Cheerios. He also recently tried a spoonful of my oatmeal, and loved it, so we'll add that to the rotation.

A typical lunch is baked chicken nuggets or baked fish sticks with a cheese stick and vegetables. We alternate between peas, mixed vegetables, and sweet potato puffs that I found at Whole Foods. Or, a grilled cheese sandwich, or toast with peanut butter, again, with vegetables.

Liam is still on two naps a day on weekdays, but weekends, he sometimes only takes one. Either way, in the late morning, he eats a snack of fruit and graham crackers, fruit and yogurt, or fruit and cheese. We're actually trying to cut back on his fruit consumption, because he's getting bad diaper rashes.

We spend most days at home, play with toys, reading books, running around in circles (okay, that's just Liam). Some days, we make short trips to Trader Joe's, the grocery store, or Target. Some days, we trek to Babies R Us, which Liam loves, because I let him walk around on his own. Babies R Us is typically nearly empty on weekday afternoons, so it's very easy to keep track of him, and he's not getting in other people's way. At this point, it's a novelty to just run up and down the aisles, he doesn't try and touch anything on the shelves.

After his second nap, he eats a snack of cheddar bunnies, or yogurt dippers (graham sticks and fruit-flavored yogurt). Afterwards, if the weather is mild, I'll wear him in either my Boba or ring sling, and we'll walk the dogs, but it's been a while since we've been able to do that.

As I said earlier, dinner is usually more challenging. I try to choose healthy meals that I think he will like, but it's still hit or miss. It doesn't help that I've been feeling sick lately, and not up to eating dinner. He ate his spaghetti and meatballs, and he *loved* the tomato-bacon flatbread pizza that The Mister made the other night.

He also loves spending time with his grandparents (my parents). As soon as he sees my dad, he tries to imitate a cheek-popping noise that my dad has been doing since Liam was a baby to make him smile. They have toys at their house, and they build huge block towers for Liam to knock over. He's always exhausted when he comes home because he runs around so much there!

To see more Munchkin Meals, click over to A Healthy Slice of Life!