Big Brother, Big Helper

There's a new picky eater in town. Nolan, who once would eat whatever you put in front of him has learned the phrase " I don't like that, I want a popscicle!".
He won't even try anything unless it's the usual stuff he likes. It's so frusterating because I just know that he will like it if only he would take that first bite! Jack, who is now almost 4 years old, has all of the wisdom and experience of a big brother who has been through this sort of thing. Sitting across the table, Jack is just FULL of advice for Nolan on how and why he should eat his food. He goes over and over the fact that Nolan will not get a snack if he does not at least try his dinner. He even demonstrates that it is in fact edible by taking a big bite of his food and saying "See Nolan, it's yummy and now I have big muscles! You should try it, you might like it!" Usually this works because Nolan mimicks EVERYTHING that Jack does ( which is where he got the " I don't like that" phrase in the first place). Tonight however, his terrible two stubborness was in full effect and he would not have any of it. So after Jack finished his plate, he went over and told Nolan he would help him eat his yummy food. I swear, just when you think you are going to throw in the towel because you are sure that your kids don't listen to one single word that you say, one of them does something like this! Jack stood there and very sweetly told Nolan to "eat his yummy yummy vegetables so his tummy would get full" and even put the spoon up to his mouth and pretended to eat a bite and said "Mmmmmm!" and then carefully fed Nolan every last bite of his dinner! I couldn't help but laugh at Jack's facial expression with every bite, how he opened his own mouth. I don't know when I started getting a kick out of these little things in life! I just think this was simply sweet and am glad to know they actually do listen to us!