My Sweet Pea HATES Pea-Balls

My Connor is a really sweet kid.  He not only remembers to use his nice words without probing, but he is always concerned about his family.  Whenever anyone gets hurt, Connor is always the first to ask if we are okay and then tries to make us happy again with kisses, hugs, toys, etc.  That's just who he is.

So it broke my heart at lunch today when he decided that he now HATES pea-balls.  Honestly they have never been a favorite in our house, which is why we added balls to the name (when the boys first started to eat table food we realized they ate them better after my mom called them pea-balls, so it stuck).  But Connor brought his dislike to a whole new level this afternoon.  As his brothers sucked it up and went on with their meals, Connor continued to repeat "I don't like pea-balls" and threw in several "Mommy, I just want to snuggle with you" comments, all while using his most pathetic and sweet voice (he wasn't screaming, crying hysterically, acting crazy or even being annoying). As this continued, I started to feel guilty about making the poor kid eat them.  But since our standard home rule is that all the vegetables have to be gone before eating anything else, I was afraid to make an exception as I didn't want every meal to turn into this. 

As Connor continued to eat his spoonfuls of pea-balls, I couldn't help from thinking about the same nastiness I had to eat as a kid. Needless to say, my guilt got even worse.

At that point I decided I was going to blog about my dilemma...  Should I make the kid eat the same vegetables I despise or do I negotiate with my little person (something that I do not like to do!)?  I took out my camera (since I always blog with pictures), turned it on and pointed it at Connor.  Rather than him continuing on with his comments about his dislike for pea-balls, however, Connor looked at the camera, said "cheese" and did his absolute best to give me a nice smile. 

After lunch when peas were a thing of the past (he did eventually eat them all and continue with the yummy portion of the meal), Connor said to me, "Mommy, I'm sorry for whining about the pea-balls.  I won't do it again.".  And to think I was done feeling guilty...

 

For some reason when my mom made me eat peas as a child I don't think I was trying to put on a brave face and smile for a camera.  Nor did I want to snuggle with the lady who was making me eat the most disgusting mushy food out there.  And I'm pretty positive I didn't apologize to her for not being the most pleasant company during lunch/ dinner.

So going back to my original thought... Don't I have the sweetest sweet pea in the world?!?