Great update! and best thing is you sound calmer and more hopeful! He will pick up on it. What kind of kid in BW Types is your DS? I am thinking of it as a clue for eating.
I think it is so personal and so deepends on a child and a parent and their lifestyle. See, I never make any sandwiches and always make soups, pastas, risottos, caseroles, etc. so splitting that into separate foods would be too bothersome for me. also nursery would not do separate food items except at dinner and I find my kids always eat better if things are in a warm sauce, so often it is the dinner that is not eaten. I did a buffet once last weekend on a whim to use all the fridge food in mini dishes and overall it worked but DS tried only a few things. he ate the hard boiled egg with mayo in a shape of a mouse and some bread and corn. Stil egg and corn were new foods! Clearly I won't be doing that much effort every day. But it is great that it worked that time and that it works for others. I can always add the corn on a side as otehrs have suggested. However I did Find that in my case exposure is key. Say a week ago he refused corn. Then I mashed it so to remove all the husks from corn kernels and put it into risotto. He did not eat much of it. Then when I was away he ate it with DH. Next thing I know he wants to eat the cooked kernels and eats all of them but does not touch the other stuff on his plate. So i figure it will come. Last 2 weeks he did not eat much noodles at home or nursery and fish was tricky. Today he ate tuna noodles there. Go figure! Equally mash potatoes, spaggetti, pasta, noodles can all be rejected at home. Some days he rejected even bananas and dry fruit. Since I can't pick a pattern I think it is either the exposure to new or the change in appetitie due to some bugs, energy levels, feeling sleepy, starting nursery full time, who knows. looking at DD I know that kids go through fads, change of tastes, not eating foods if it has offensive item in it (e.g. It has a hint of green because of parsley), not eating food if one of the items looks weird (steamed bits of spinach) and so on. These days DD eats pretty much most things. However it took about a year to accept broccoli, maybe half a year for pumpkin, and she will still pick out spinach. It seems to me that picky eating maybe in the family. I guess it means they will be good cooks one day. Pity that it means Some of my cooking goes to the bin, but oh well. Speaking of Ellyn Satter, I found a reference to her in Raising Your Spirited Child chapter on fussy eating. A great resource book for many of my struggles.
