How To: Get your Toddler to Eat their Dinner

1. Make teriyaki chicken stir fry for dinner
2. Serve up dinner
3. Put Toddler in high chair
4. Toddler looks at food and doesn't want it
5. Eat own dinner while encouraging Toddler to eat theirs
6. Finish own dinner and sits down next to Toddler
7. Try to get Toddler to eat
8. Try the "airplane spoon" method
9. Toddler refuses and starts crying
10. Toddler asks for "P!" (L&P)
11. Bribe Toddler with a little L&P if they eat their dinner (Toddler doesn't usually have fizzy drinks, as reserved for special treats, and in this case obviously bribery) 
12. Toddler eats a piece of chicken
13. Give Toddler a sip of L&P
14. Toddler eats and other piece of chicken
15. Give Toddler sip of L&P
16. Toddler spits chicken out
17. Take L&P away
18. Try giving Toddler some rice
19. Toddler takes fork and looks like they will put it in their mouth
20. Rice ends up back into bowl
21. Toddler wants the rest of L&P 
22. Tell Toddler they need to eat their dinner for the L&P
23. Toddler gets even more upset
24. To stop Toddler from getting too wound up, remove L&P and teriyaki chicken and put in the kitchen
25. Remove Toddler from high chair
26. Toddler goes and lies in their donut 
27. Toddler calls out of milk
28. Tell Toddler they need to eat their dinner first
29. Toddler still upset
30. Decide to abandon teriyaki chicken and heat up last nights Mac n cheese (Toddlers favourite)
31. Put mac n cheese on high chair and ask Toddler to eat their dinner
32. Toddler cries and climbs onto the table
33. Decide to change tactics and allow Toddler to eat at table, regardless of mess that may occur
34. Toddler looks at mac n cheese and says "No! NO! MILK!" 
35. Ask Toddler to eat some of the mac n cheese - "Only a little bit darling, then you can have some milk" 
36. Smile at Toddler
37. Toddler gets down off the table and runs into the lounge 
38. Toddler finds empty clean bottle in the lounge (they must have got into the bottle drawer earlier and played with it) 
39. Toddler lies in donut and tries to drink out of the bottle
40. Toddler realises that bottle is empty and throws it away in disgust
41. Toddler climbs up onto lap for a cuddle
42. After a little while when Toddler is calmed down ask them if they are ready to try eating dinner
43. Toddler gets down and walks into kitchen
44. Follow Toddler with mac n cheese bowl in hand
45. Toddler starts pulling the plastic containers out of the panty to clear the potato box (he likes to sit on this)
46. See that perhaps Toddler will eat dinner if they are sitting on the box
47. Offer dinner to Toddler again
48. Toddler gets upset again, this time with real tears
49. Try to give Toddler a hug again
50. Toddler pushes away
51. Put bowl of mac n cheese into a plastic container on the floor 
52. Decide to wait it out, and lie down on kitchen floor with hands behind head, looking up and try to make out shapes in the popcorn ceiling to pass the time
53. After about five minutes Toddler looks over and stops crying
54. Toddler decides to come and sit on my stomach and cuddle my knees
55. Toddler then wipes face on knees and gets up (snot and tears are now covering my pants)
56. Toddler gets L&P drink off the bench and walks back
57. Toddler sits down on my stomach and sips L&P
58. Toddler picks up bowl and proceeds to eat half of the mac n cheese while still sitting on my stomach
59. Ask Toddler if they are enjoying dinner
60. Toddler responds by trying to feed me a fork full of mac n cheese and broccoli 
61. Fork contents fall on my face, down my top and on the floor next to my head
62. Crack up laughing, making Toddler bounce around
63. Toddler puts bowl on bench with L&P and says "Milk Mum"
64. Praise Toddler and thank them for putting their food on the bench and eating some of their dinner
65. Make some Toddler formula up 
66. Give to Toddler, who is in donut
67. Toddler drains bottle very quickly, lets out a big burp, lies down and goes to sleep
68. Pick up Toddler
69. Change nappy
70. Put Toddler to bed
71. Go back to lounge and tidy up
72. Sit down and think about how even though Toddler got his milk in the end, I still managed to get him to eat something, so it's a little win. 
73. Pick up L&P cup and realise that at most Toddler only had 3-4 sips. another little win 
74. Tip L&P down the kitchen sink and sit down for a quiet evening of reading and writing