Dinner can be a frustrating thing at times around here, mostly due to the lass’ finickiness. And by finicky, I don’t mean she only likes each food a certain way, though there is that to some degree, rather what she likes changes with a rather startling amount of frequency.
So while at the grocery store today, I saw they had salmon fillets for $7 a pound, which was just too good to pass up. We hadn’t had salmon in awhile anyway. My only hesitation was I couldn’t remember what the lass’ opinion on salmon was at the moment. My recollection was it was in a “thumbs up” cycle, I just couldn’t be sure. But between the Wife, the boy and myself I figured my odds were good enough.
Well, it turned out I was wrong. Salmon was in a “thumbs down” cycle.
It was obvious from the moment she returned from dance that she wasn’t happy. I mean, sure, she wandered by the salmon fillets on the counter and declared them “gross.” But it was obvious based on how she’d entered that the Wife had informed her that salmon was on the menu and she wasn’t happy about it. She had a sour look on her face, her shoulders were slumped, her general demeanor was that exaggerated fatigue kids do when they aren’t in the mood to cooperate. She was oozing “pain in the ass.”
She actually disappeared just prior to serving the food and I was tempted to not make the effort to find her. Why ruin my own meal? Parental discipline won out though, as I found her in the next room. She slouched towards her chair and I gave her a couple of mouthfuls of salmon on her plate.
Miraculously, about halfway through dinner, her plate still basically untouched and shoved off to the side, the boy convinced her to try a bite of the salmon. He even proposed that I offer her a reward for at least trying it.
She took a bite and finished it.
Then, she took another bite and finished that one as well.
Finally, she begrudgingly reached over to her plate and pulled it in front of her. She picked up her fork, and she began to eat. In between mouthfuls, she muttered “I liked it better than I thought I would.”
And just like that, salmon is back in the “thumbs up” cycle.