David, I am with you. no way am I cooking another dinner or tossing out good food. Problem with tonight was his dinner was beef, so I can't eat it. He had 2 strips of bacon instead. It's a struggle getting meat in him right now and since he refuses all veggies, I am not really willing to give up on meat.

There are recent studies indicating that left to their own appetites kids will eat what they need. Personally, I vowed a long time ago to never have a fight about dinner. "Here's what I made. If you don't want it there's cereal, toast or a PB&J. That's it." It helps to have an outlet plan, but no double dinners either.

It's also good to remember that they have very limited palates at that age. You get four or five good regular meals in rotation and life's good. I pushed the nutrition by making a lot of fruit smoothies which are both tasty and fun to do huddled over the blender. Kids love blenders.

My nephew LOVES fruit smoothies. Lots of calcium and vitamin C, and he gets to push the button. Everybody wins.

Owen will ignore what's on his plate to go and steal off of Olivia's highchair tray. It's the SAME FOOD--only cut up into smaller pieces.

Yeah, but since Olivia is clearly the favorite, you're obviously giving her the good stuff. Sheesh, mom!

Sorry, msbelle -- you didn't get to warm up with a baby refusing mashed whatever.

Top Chef: Sheesh! That was not at all what I was expecting.

Question to the hivemind: I bought a leather coat from the thrift store with a polyester fake fleece lining. Unfortunately the previous owner was a smoker. I'm assuming washing will get the smoke out of the liner, but what would be the best way to get it out of the leather?

I'd try. Noise ordinances or something. Or if your city has a non-emergency line (we have, um 311? I think?) I'd call them and ask for advice

Thanks, sarameg. I think I will if it continues. We def. have a non-emergency number which is what I'd call. I don't consider the annoying alarm 911-worthy. Okay, on Friday when I was trying to rest I thought it was totally 911-worthy, but I was cranky.

I vowed a long time ago to never have a fight about dinner. "Here's what I made. If you don't want it there's cereal, toast or a PB&J. That's it."

That was my mom, perzactly. Although, toast was not an option for us. Cereal or a sandwich. And we had to make it ourselves. Perfectly reasonable from my point of view, even at 10.

I think I always had a certain-number-of-bites rule. Which, when it's something nasty like zucchini, was ROUGH.

Top Chef: I had heard rumors about hair cutting but uh, that was disturbing and I think Sam should have been more proactive in getting Cliff to stop. And Padma almost had me with her "pack your bags and go to Hawaii." I guess it was just fortunate that the person with the least favorite dish was the one who crossed the line.

You know, my dad had a "you can't leave the table until you clean your plate" sort of upbringing and he HATED IT so we never had that. I don't think we even had the you have to eat x number of bites. (I know somebody whose family said that you had to eat as many bites as your age.)

Whatever. If I follow the routine and give him time to understand what dinner will be or give him some options, then all is fine. He will eat fruit at every meal and also bread.

sara - pasta is only sometimes ok to him now.

It's just a control issue. We just don't have time in our day for a half hour sidetrack.

anyway. my work from home work is as done as it is getting tonight, so I'm off to shower.

I hope tomorrow is a better day for you, msbelle.