The Lesser of Two Evils

Tonight's dinner was nothing spectacular, although I am proud of us as parents.  I'll be naming this tip "The Lesser of Two Evils."

Today there was a giant traffic mess and there were quite a few parents late picking up their children from the Center...then my children had to go see their grandmother's pet bird before we got in the car.  That put us on the road half an hour later than usual.  Luckily, my wonderful husband had called before he left work and asked what we were doing for dinner.  Also fortunate, I had thought about it the day before and defrosted some ground beef...we are having Hamburger Helper for dinner.  It is not often that I buy it, but I do have some fond childhood memories of the lasagna flavor, mixed with a little cottage cheese.  So a couple times a year, we indulge.  Tonight, Daddy cooked while we were at the gas station (that put us another 15 minutes behind schedule!). 

Here is where the proud part comes in...our three-year-old is borderline anemic with very low iron stores.  We need to be feeding her beef 4 times a week.  She hates beef.  Oh, and while feeding her beef, she can't drink milk--I just found out that it interferes with the iron absorbtion.  She loves milk.  We have also been increasing her green-leafy vegetables (you may have seen my spinach quiche post).  So tonight, I told my wonderful hubby that there were a bunch of frozen vegetables to pick from...why don't we do the creamed spinach and give her a choice of another iron-filled food when she refuses to eat the beef, like we know she will.

The kids and I came home to an already set table with Hamburger Helper and creamed spinach on the plates and water in the cups.  Baby Girl immediately starts with the foot-stomping, arm-crossing, lip-pouting, Whiny McWhinester routine.  I make the mistake of sending her to her room (like we always do when she does that routine).  She jumps up out of the chair and says "I'm not hungry anyway!"  Did I mention, she's three?

Change of plan...make her sit then ignore her...yeah, that's better.

She actually started eating.  Once all the noodles were gone, we gave her choices:

1. Eat some of the beef and spinach, or
2. Eat all the beef, or
3. Eat all the spinach.

When Daddy tried to feed her some spinach, she yelled "I just want beef!"  Is it wrong that inside my head sounded a little like this: "Mmmwwaaahhhaaahhaahhaahhaa"