Try-a Papaya

I have decided that this summer the girls and I will be spending our meal times eating healthier foods.  We are going to try to go with fresh fruits and veggies when ever possible.  I even have a cute little visual aide (that is still in my head) that we will use as a reminder of the foods we are supposed to be eating. 

During spring break I started our prehealthy eating by introducing some new foods.  We had kiwi, It still makes me shudder, but I'm not telling the girls that!, and we also had sugar snap peas.  Both went over well with all 3 girls.  In fact, A2 even asked for the sugar snap peas for her snack.  By the end of the week A1 stopped gagging when she saw them on her plate.  I am considering both mini victories. 

Today, after I finished my bag of Brach's Malted Eggs, I began fixing the girls' lunches.  I went with a familiar corn dog and then decided to spring another new food on them; papaya. While they were outside I came up with the creative slogan, "Try-a Papaya!" I also came up with a fun presentation...papaya chunk kabobs.  I gave each girl 3 chunks of fruit and speared them with a toothpick.  I speared the fruit, not the girls...

A2 was the first to see her plate.  She was so excited.  She sat down and tried her papaya before eating anything else.  She laughed her wicked laughed as shoved them down.  She loved the papaya!

A3 was equally excited to try the new fruit.  She even asked for more "Pie-ya." I was a little disgusted when I realized she was dipping it in ketchup, but at least she was eating it.

A1 was a little harder to convince to eat something new.  I even tried to convince her that if we were on an exotic vacation we would be able to eat this straight from the tree. Then I wondered if they grew on trees... Maybe I should add some fun internet research to our summer healthy eating project.  We can find out how our food grows before we eat it. Ha! Who am I kidding? We will be lucky to remember to buy the fruit! Anyway, A1 wasn't buying my attempt at distracting and then tricking her into eating food. She told me that she wouldn't ever go on an exotic vacation so she won't have to eat gross food.  She rolled her eyes when I sang, "Try-a Papaya" to her.  She flicked the toothpicks.  She. Was. Not. Going. To. Try. It! I ended up taking her Ipod away until she ate them.  She fake gagged while she ate the first one.  I ignored her.  She cried while she ate the second one.  I ignored her.  She blamed me, Mac, and her taste buds for not liking them.  It wasn't her fault! I laughed at her.  She ate the third one.  She told me they were ok when I asked her what she thought. 

I know this will be a battle with the girls, especially A1, but it will be worth it in the end.  I think. I welcome any fun food suggestions while we make our transition from processed to fresh!