Help me hang up my greasy apron

'Cuz I'm tired of being a short-order cook.

A little bit of background: Bryce, who is now six, was the hardest baby in the history of the world. He was born tiny and petulant, and spent the first year of his life screaming. After I finally succeeded in getting him to nurse (when he was a month old), I had to sit on the floor of the bathroom or the kitchen with the water running the entire time or else he'd get too distracted and wouldn't eat. I could never let him cry it out because within five minutes of leaving him in his bedroom, he'd cry so hard he'd throw up, and I figured that cleaning puke every night was a lot harder than sitting with the kid while he fell asleep. He also had (and still has) asthma, which meant that we were in and out of the doctor's office all the time.

To make a long story short, I was not too surprised when he was about a year old and went on an eating strike. He went from eating whatever we put in front of him to eating about ten foods. I have been surprised that his eating strike continued, for the last FIVE years. He totally freaks out when we even try to suggest that he try a new food (and will throw up if we manage to get something utterly disgusting, like a Rice Krispie treat, past his lips). We constantly try to offer him new foods, but he's just not going to go there.

People keep telling me he'll grow out of it and that I shouldn't worry about it. But I'm sick of it. I'm tired to taking him to barbecues where the only thing he'll eat is a hot dog bun. I'm tired to making two dinners every night (because I'm not sticking to the pb sandwich, quesadilla, grilled cheese, cheeseburger diet myself). I'm tired of the example he's setting for his siblings (Annie is pretty picky too, but can be coaxed into eating what we're having, and I think she'd eat a better variety of foods if she didn' t have the option of eating what I make for Bryce every night). I'm tired of worrying about him getting rickets or scurvy or whatever diseases people get when they don't eat any vegetables.

So, short of hiring SuperNanny or those Jewish guys in TLC to come in and whip some booty, is there anything you think I can do to change his eating habits? Or, more importantly, what would you do to stop making two dinners every night (where he gets something to eat besides a roll)?

--originally published 8/17/06