Cauliflower? Never again.

The other night I was scratching my head about what to make Nick for dinner.  We were planning to have leftover chili, and I was hesitant to give Nick chili, as I was fearful it would give him gas or a stomach ache.  So instead I opted to make him a grilled cheese sandwich (one of his faves) with a side of steamed broccoli & cauliflower.  Color me naive. 

Little dude gobbled it all up like a champ, making sure to spread the melted cheese, and mushy vegetable bits all over his high chair, while occasionally running his fingers through his hair or rubbing his face.  At one point he even had a piece of broccoli on his eyelid -- which of course made me panic unnecessarily, seeing as I was sure he would get it in his eye and go blind.  Mommy problems.

Anyway, in true Nick fashion, the minute he was full, he loudly announced that he was finished by refusing to chew the last mouthful of food (which, mind you, he had shoved in there himself) and cried until I fished the food out of his mouth with my finger, removed the high chair tray, unstrapped him, and set him on the floor.  Of course, I wiped him down from head to toe first.  And he had a bath later.  But I digress. 

The real reason for this post, is to remind myself that serving steamed broccoli & cauliflower before bed was a horrendous idea.  Case in point: Nick was up with TERRIBLE gas (I'm talking rip-roaring farts) for nearly two hours after I laid him in his crib for bed.  He cried and cried, and was inconsolable.  At 10:00pm, after we had gone in to his room about 15 times already, rubbing his back, and each time thinking we'd just gotten him to sleep, only to leave the room and hear him stand up and wail again, Todd finally said "ok, if he doesn't stop crying in 20 minutes, I'm admitting defeat and letting him sleep in our bed all night."  And wouldn't you know it, he passed out before the 20 minutes was up.

The next morning at daycare, I asked the babysitter "have you ever given Nick cauliflower before?" To which she looked a bit horrified, and said "no, not yet...I didn't know you'd given it to him before??" Well, that's because until that night, I hadn't.  Too bad he seemed to love it, because I'll be damned if he has it for dinner again anytime soon.   Lesson -- totally learned.