He's Eating ALL MY FOOD!

For almost 18 months now, Eli and I have had three daily battles: breakfast, lunch and dinner. I put up a good fight at breakfast but by dinner, I'm exhausted and have the battle wounds (usually some type of food product on my shirt) to prove it. As Eli screams, "Allll dun," I raise the white flag in surrender.

But the other night, we had a breakthrough. It was a breakthrough on a variety of levels ... one, I actually suggested making a picnic and taking it upstairs so my children could watch ... hold onto your hats now ... the NASCAR race. Ben was at the race and Joshua was dead set on watching the cars. Okay, not really. He likes the wrecks. Plan and simple. He's ALL BOY!
So ... I busted out my gourmet cooking skills and prepared a crustless PB and J sandwich, pear slices and blueberries ... on orange and blue plates.
The first miracle ... they're both sitting and not touching each other. And what's this ... Eli has taken a bite! I was actually content with one bite and would have considered that a victory but ...
Then something strange happened. Eli lunged towards J How's plate and began stealing more food. As if he'd been starved his whole life and this was his one opportunity to make a go of it ...
Hmmm ... there seems to be an added sandwich and a few extra pears ... and lots of blueberries on E's plate??
And Joshua's plate ... food kept disappearing. At one point Joshua yells out, "Stop E-why. You're swiping all my food!" To which I replied, "Joshua. The kid hasn't eaten in 18 months. I'll get you more. Let him swipe."
And so he did. He completely cleaned Joshua out of all his dinner ...
And licked the plate ... just to make sure all those crumbs landed in his tummy!

I now believe we'll be having a picnic ... EVERY night!