A call for help

To all the mothers out there: someone help me please!!!! How do I teach my oldest child to be soft and gentle to the baby? The phrases:

"Be soft"

"Don't squeeze"

"Don't smash her hand"

"Please get off her arm"

"Don't lay on her stomach"

"Just hold her hand don't squeeze it"

"Get off your sister"

are getting old and worn out around our house and I am at my whits end of knowing what to do. It is like I can't even lay the baby down on the floor without her being malled to death by small fry. She has this thing about squeezing the babies hand and holding it against her (small fry's) eye. She knows the difference between soft and not soft because she can show me how to hold her hand soft. At other times she just hovers over her with her little jaw clenched and holds on to her hand or arm and won't let go. I don't think she is trying to hurt her I just don't know how to teach her that the baby doesn't want to have her on top of her all the time. I tell her that she has to be gentle or she won't get to play with her sister but then that means that I have to put the baby up on the counter in the bouncy seat and the poor girl would like to roll around once in a while. I am just waiting for the day when my little pumpkin is old enough to reach up and sock small fry in the nose and hopefully that will teach her. So what do I do? I know my baby is more resiliant than I give her credit for but do I monitor small fry's every move, do I lay off and wait until the baby is crying before I step in? Someone has to have been here before. How do I teach her how to play properly around the baby?

Mailbox makeover

I wanted to make small fry a mailbox for Valentines day. I was going to make one of these over at Simply Modern Mom but I ran out of time and it was too small for fitting much mail in it. Small fry always asks if there is any mail for her when we go to the mailbox so I thought it would be fun to have her own mailbox at home that I could put random things into. When the weather warms up I think I will put it outside on the front steps so we can go outside and check her mail. Anyway I found this mailbox in the clearance isle at my favorite place-Walmart-for .37 cents. What a steal.

I recovered it with some scrapbook paper and some Mod Podge plus a little ribbon and a few chip board letters and this is what I ended up with.

She was thrilled. She calls it her "happy valentines day."

Dear WalMart

Dear Walmart,
Ever heard of a little season called Spring? In most of the continental United States we experience slush, mud puddles, melting snow, and rain during this season. You would think that you would jump on board by offering your loyal customers some sort of selection of rain boots. But oh no Walmart. You have gone from winter snow boots right to sandals, skipping over the season entirely. Not a rainboot to be found in your store. Sorry I take that back, you had those big black ugly mens rubber boots. You leave me no choice but to go elsewhere to find my puddle loving daughter a pair of rain boots for the season we are praying will arrive any day now. Thanks once again Walmart for giving us the appearance of a store that has everything but really has not much of anything.
Sincerely,
Dissatisfied.

Anyone out there know where I can find some really cute, affordable rainboots for small fry currently a size 5?

A "Jump" start on Easter

Blessed winter, I am getting so sick and tired of you. It isn't close to the start of spring, and it doesn't look or feel anything like spring here in my neck of the woods but I am itching and aching for spring to get here. So the other day when this idea popped into my head I put on small fry's Elmo's Magic Cookbook DVD (a lifesaver) and ran to my craft room and whipped these little guys up.

They are pretty much as basic as they come but I thought I would add a little tutorial just in case someone out there might need some help getting started.
You will need:
Chinese take out boxes-mine were mini, you could use larger ones and just make everything bigger
Fun foam (I used white with a self adhesive back and pink)
Some Chalk for ears and cheeks
Black pen
Ribbon

1. To start draw out your bunnies ear on the back side of the white fun foam. I drew one first and then used it as the pattern to make the other one.

2. Chalk the center of each ear.

3. Cut out a nose shape (I just eye balled mine) and hot glue in place. If you aren't going to use hot glue then you will want to use white glue when using fun foam.

4. Draw on his eyes, mouth and chalk his cheeks. I used red for his cheeks on the box because the pink chalk didn't show up.

5. Then to make his nose and ears stand out a bit more I used my black pen to draw some dotted lines around each.

6. Now if using the fun foam with the adhesive back then tear off only a bit from the bottom of each ear piece and stick in place on the take out carton.

7. Finish by tieing some varied lengths of ribbon on the handle using bright spring colors.

That's it. Super easy and really cute.

I put 4 M&M's in one for Small fry and she was trilled.

They would be cute as a favor for a party or make larger ones to have in place of an Easter basket. You could fill them with Easter grass and put all kinds of goodies inside.

Sleeping through the night

I feel like I should post about our experience with getting little miss small fry to sleep through the night by herself in her bed. I am no expert on anything to do with parenting or child's sleep habits and the few tidbits that I try, I have gotten from magazines or Supernanny. However this was a super trying experience for us and has turned out successful and I feel like there might be someone out there who is either going through the same thing or may face it in the future and maybe this will be of some help.
When we moved small fry into her big girl room before our little pumpkin was born she did just fine. Slept in her bed with no problems and stayed in her bed with no problems. She still sucked on her binkie then and drank from a bottle at night before going to sleep. Even when our little pumpkin was born she didn't seem to have a problem with going to bed in her big girl bed and staying there and sleeping all night. We did however encounter a high tantrum phase in December and that led to her chucking her binkie in the car after a disastrous Walmart experience and so he (binkie) was gone. Well things kind of just fell apart on us. She didn't want to take naps or go to sleep without it. And if she did fall asleep then she would wake up multiple times in the night crying for binkie. For nap time I had to keep her up until she was good and tired before putting her down and then as I would read her stories she would fall asleep. I thought that was great. It ended up biting us in the butt because she got so that she would not fall asleep on her own any more. And so if you tried to leave the room and she was still awake it was a screaming and crying fest. We would have to wait until she was really tired to put her to bed and read until she fell asleep. And then there was the night waking. She would get up sometimes 7 or more times in the night. I told my husband we were going to just take her back to bed each time. Don't cuddle and linger, just put her back in bed. One night we did that for 2 hours solid and she finally fell asleep in the hallway and we got her in bed. We were exhausted. We tried putting her in her room and just closing the door and letting her cry it out until she fell asleep and then opening the door afterwards. That worked but I didn't like how it felt to me. So one night I just put her in bed and then sat down on the floor in her room, not right by her bed but where she could see me, not facing her and I didn't engage in conversation but just sat and she cried for a bit but eventually fell asleep and I was able to get up and leave. It felt so much better. It didn't take nearly as long, there was no tantrum, I didn't feel like I was going to lose control. It was a fairly peaceful way to get her to go to sleep. So that became our plan. If she was to wake up we would take her back to her bed and then just sit on the floor and wait. We started in the middle of the room then after about a week moved closer to the door and closer and closer every few days. But she was smart and insisted that we sit on the floor. Still there was no crying to I felt like this was what was best. But that was in mid December. When we were still sitting on the floor by the door in Jan I thought this would never end. There were plenty of nights when I was in tears thinking "we are never going to be able to just sleep in our bed again." It felt like we weren't making any progress and if you tried to get up before she was asleep she would let you know that was not okay. But we eventually made it out the door and were sitting by the door in the hallway. Then it happened that I was home alone and the baby was crying and I just told her I needed to go and check on the baby and I would be back to check on her and she said "okay." And she fell asleep on her own. Then a few days later the same thing happened and I told her I had to go check on the baby and check the fire and I would be back and she said, "okay." Soon it got to where she would say to me, "check baby?" when I would kiss her good night and I would say, "ya I will go check on the baby and then I will be back." And guess what-we don't have to sit by the door anymore. I can say goodnight and just walk right out and she stays in her bed and sleeps through the whole night. It felt like it would never happen and I kept thinking that it wasn't working but it was. It just took time. I am so glad we didn't just give up on the idea and let her jump in bed with us, or decide to have one of us hold her every night until she fell asleep. Those habits would be so hard to break down the road. It just took time but it worked. And maybe it will be helpful to someone else out there too.

I need a tune up

I am here to post the honest truth-I am in a slump. I am not feeling even the slightest creative spark currently and I am not sure how to get out of it. I have an idea list of things that I want to do but just can't seem to find the creative juices to get started. I need to refresh my battery, tweek my engine or something. I just got home from a "vacation" to another small town in my great state for the state basketball tournament. We were staying at a hotel with a swimming pool, there was a new walmart for me to frequent (and get material for a good post of two), the town had a clothing store at which I planned to go shopping-so it had the makings for a rejuvenating experience. Or so I thought. It was possibly one of the most stressful things I have done in a while. I don't think there was one moment of relaxation that took place for me and I didn't come home with that recharged, revamped feeling that even a mini vacation is supposed to produce. And you know I have been thinking-we take our cars in to get them a tune up to keep them running properly and at their best and yet how many mothers ever get a tune up. I am not tuned up. I was watching "What Not to Wear" which I try not to make habit of because it makes me feel worse about my very poor selection of clothing each time I watch the show, but there was nothing else on and I was rocking the baby to sleep. Anyway they were making over a women who was 38 years old. She said she didn't think it mattered how you dressed after you got married and had kids. They told her she looked like she threw in the towel at age 35. She said, she felt like she threw in the towel at age 30. That is me people. 30. This mother said she just didn't feel like she should spend money and time on herself but that she needed to devote it to her family. And I like what Stacey and Clinton told her "you are part of the picture too-why is it that you don't feel like you deserve some time and money as well." Exactly- but I fall into that same mothers trap-worry about everyone else, who has time for hair and makeup the baby is crying, shop for myself-how with two children under the age of 2. I feel guilty spending money on myself especially since I am not the one who makes the money and so I feel like it shouldn't be spent on a new shirt for me-I should buy new crayons for small fry and diapers and fruit and fresh veggies and toilet bowel cleaner. And all the while as a mom you just get more and more run down and run down. AND THEN YOU NEED A TUNE UP!!!! That is where I am at. I am feeling a major need for a tune up, something fresh and fun, and a creative spark. Quite possibly I am the only one out there like this but basically what I am saying is-this gal is just fresh tapped out. So I might just be posting some new recipes for a couple of days while I see if I can get myself back together. Stay tuned.

6 Pack of Love

Valentines Day is over but I just wanted to share what I made for my husband. I found the idea here at Nap Time Journal. I actually only had a 5 pack to give him because in classic Me style, I dropped the 6 pack when I was getting it out of the car and luckily only 1 bottle broke. I think that this idea would be cute not only for V-day but for a birthday for a son, or husband too. I was trying to keep it really manly until I found my sparkly letters to use for the word "LOVE". Oh well- he did love it.

A closer look.

This was where the bag of chocolate covered cinnamon bears was supposed to go to replace the broken bottle but I have already posted about that.

The back side.

So fun. Thanks for the idea Nap Time Journal.

I have led you astray people

I recently posted, with much enthusiasm I might add, a recipe for thinning dipping chocolate. I was so happy to have found it. YA-UNTIL I TRIED IT!!! I don't usually make a habit of posting things I haven't tried but I had actually found this recipe recommended through another blog and it was such a great find to me I wanted to share it before V-day and I had full intentions of using it myself to make chocolate covered cinnamon bears for my hubby (but I didn't get them bought before the store closed for the weekend) so I didn't actually get to the recipe until today. I hope you haven't wasted a bunch of your time and money trying this based on my recommendation alone. The recipe is junk-it doesn't work. I didn't look close enough myself otherwise I would have seen it's flaws. I got a huge blob of greasy chocolate that wouldn't stick to a cinnamon bear if I tried. I had to resort back to my old method of plain old chocolate chips (though I thinned them a bit with some shortening). Sorry if I have led anyone astray or wasted any ones time. And while I am here-does anyone know the secret to smooth and shiny dipping chocolate? I am stumped once again.

Home Free Cookies

Was just reading the latest issue of Parents magazine which had a little blurb about Risk-Free Cookies. And I quote,

" they don't have any dairy, eggs, tree nuts or peanuts. They're also organic, cholesterol and trans-fat-free and make with whole grains. $15 for 12."

That doesn't sound like a cookie to me, sounds more like really expensive cardboard with black dots drawn on it. Thanks but no thanks www.homefreetreats.com (in case anyone wants to check them out).

Beautiful Blogger Award

I was super excited to receive this blog award from Enjoy Life, Enjoy Now. I think that this woman comments on my blog more than anyone else (WHICH I LOVE) and we have never met and don't know each other except through the blogging world. So go over and check her new blog out. And thank you for the award. It always makes my day to get these little bits of recognition even if they mean nothing outside of the blogging world. I really love my blog and blogging in general and I try and keep it updated, funny, fresh and helpful so it is nice to get this as a little boost for what I do.

Part of the rules of the award is to share 7 things about myself. Since it has been a hectic weekend and we are approaching an even crazier week (state basketball for my husband's team) I might not have much else to blog about so I thought I would share at least 7 things about myself. Here goes:
1. You can find me singing songs from Dora the Explorer at anytime and in any place on any given day (it has sunk that far into my brain).
2. I think that I could get addicted to buying food for my food storage
3. I love movie theater popcorn more than any other kind in the world
4. If I get mascara on in the morning I consider myself to have put on "my makeup"
5. I am still afraid of going to the dentist. I worked up courage to go once last year and now I can't work up enough courage to go again.
6. I miss playing my guitar as much as I used to when I lived alone in the middle of no where Montana
7. I wish I knew how to use photo shop.

Random list I know. Thanks again for the award. I will try and get it passed on to some other deserving bloggers.

Dipping Chocolate

Just in time for Valentines day I thought I would share a link I just found for a recipe for thinning chocolate for dipping candy, pretzels, strawberries etc. I have always just melted chocolate and dipped my husbands favorite-cinnamon bears- in it but the consistency is never right, it takes forever to harden and turns an ugly color. Duh!!! I should have just done a search on the Internet to see if there was some recipe for making dipping chocolate. Well now I have found that there is and so to help us all this Valentines Day go here to get the recipe.

Testing a New Nickname

I have decided to test out a new nickname. Sweet pea was just not flowing off my finger tips like I wanted it to. So we are going to try out "pumpkin" for a bit. She was born on Halloween and pumpkins are one of my most favorite things in the whole world so I think this might suit her a bit better. Just didn't want anyone to think I had another child or something-don't want anyone confused.

101 reasons I love you part 2

After I posted about the 101 reasons I love you idea for your spouse I had a great idea to make a list for each of my girls and to make it a tradition each Valentines day. I could then make them into a book for each one. It was pretty easy to come up with a list for small fry but my list for my little pumpkin was much shorter as she just doesn't do much yet. But she will soon. It is kind of a good way to recap the things they have learned through the year. I know they will be real treasures to them someday too. I have a few letters that my parents wrote to me at different times about me as a baby and their feelings about me as a baby and as a child and I can't even read them still because they make me cry too much. So I think this would be a really nice keepsake/tradition to start. And a pretty easy one too.

Love Dove Stuff #2

Here are just a couple more Lovey Dovey ideas with V-Day fast approaching.
1st- I read somewhere of a great (and inexpensive) gift idea for a spouse is a list of 101 things you love about him (or her). I think that a husband would really treasure something like this and I know if my husband took the time to write 101 things he loved about me I would not even be able to read it through the tears.
2nd- I also read in another book about a marriage strenghthening ritual-a 60 second hug. I know when my husband and I were dating it was not hard to hug for that long or longer but after kids came it seemed like our hugging time got cut by a lot. I love the feel of a good hug and so one night I just grabbed my husband and held on for as close to 60 seconds as possible. He squirmed and did all these weird little things and I had to tell him to just chill out but soon he got the hang of it. Now we try and fit at least one in everyday. I didn't realize how much I missed the hugs of our dating relationship. Sure feels good to do it again.

A pat on the back

Wouldn't it be nice, as a mom, if just once in a while you had someone in your home to see all the little successes, the good moments, the moments you didn't lose your cool, the times that your child (or children) finally listened without plentiful reminders-someone to just say, "hey good job Mom, you are doing a really good job." You know, not your husband or someone who is there all the time, but someone that can see or hear when your child says, "Heavenly Father..." and starts the prayer all by herself after you have been helping for months, or who sees that even though you asked 5 times for your darling to sit down so you could put on her shoes and she finally has after the 7th time, you didn't get mad, you were firm but didn't get mad, or who gets to hear that she can recite half the pumpkin story all by herself after you have read it to her for the umpteenth time, who sees that she eats at least one vegetable at dinner and supper, and fruit everyday, that you are trying to limit candy intake and TV time, that you try and play ashes, ashes with as much enthusiasm as she does and that your house is not immaculate but not in shambles either and even though you don't fit into the same jeans you did when you got married you do your work out video in the morning and try and go for walks. Someone that can give you a pat on the back when you get frustrated and down on yourself because you only see your weaknesses as a mother and don't give yourself enough credit and someone that can say, "even though when you go the store it sometimes appears like you are running a circus, you really are doing a fantastic job." That would just be really nice wouldn't it. I could use that a couple days a week.

Addicting

Forget Tobacco companies being to blame for cigarette addictions- I would to talk to someone at the M&M's factory and find out what they are putting in their peanut M&M's because I am telling you what I will get 3 out of the bag for a snack and dang it if I am not walking by the counter and opening the drawer a 3rd, 4th or 8th time for another handful. Talk about addictive.

In case I am not the last person on earth

Occasionally I come across things either on my own or via someones blog, an Internet search or a recommendation and I think, "wow this is the greatest thing ever. I wonder how long this has been around before I found out about it?" I always feel like I must be the last person on earth to know about things. But just in case I am not the last person on earth and one of you out there hasn't heard about any of these things either, I am here to help. Just wanted to share some recent and not so recent things I have found that are really cool that you should check out if you haven't ever heard of them before.
First: If you are like me then you are always on the look out for a cute new font for your computer. Look no further. Go to http://www.kevinandamanda.com/fonts/ for some super cute free fonts. The best part is they have an option to download them all at once instead of one at a time and that is such a bonus. She also has a tutorial on how to make it possible to use the cute fonts on your blog. I tried, but that was WAY out of my league and I finally gave up that project. But I do use all the cute fonts on all my word documents, cards, signs, everything I print off my computer.
Second: I just found this blog-romantic ideas, and love dove stuff all on a budget. Lots of cute ideas at this blog. Go here http://loveactually-blog.blogspot.com/ She has stuff you can buy and then lots of cute ideas for stuff to make and do. I know I can always use some help coming up with something new to spice up my marriage. Maybe I could leave sticky notes with the blog address all over the house and my husband would get the hint that he should check it out too?Third: This one mostly applies to the Mormon crowd-though not entirely because this website has downloads that are not just LDS related. Talk about a great place to find really cute, downloadable clipart for a really great price. Green Jello with Carrots is the place to go. Oh they have really cute things from paper dolls, bingo games, coloring pages, FHE file folders activities, talks for children, handouts for classes-well you just have to go check it out. You pay for it online and download it to your computer then print it off. When I bought a set of paper dolls for $3.95 I was able to download it 3 times. How great is that? And I wasn't together enough to do this, but if you buy $4.00 worth of stuff on Fridays, they have great freebies you can download too. This is so fun. Such great stuff. You have to go and see. Go here http://greenjellowithcarrots.com/products/ to go right to their shop.

Fourth: If you are a crock pot cooker have you heard of A Year of Slow Cooking? She cooked using her crockpot at least once a day for a whole year and blogged the whole thing. Here is a blog with a ton of recipes. I haven't spent a lot of time looking at her blog, but I have been thinking more and more about crockpot recipes and she always comes to my mind. Go here
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ to check out her blog.

And while you are thinking about crock pot recipes let me share with y0u a quick and easy one:

Swiss Cheese Chicken with Dressing

(this is enough for 2 people-double for 4 people etc)

2 chicken breasts

2 slices Swiss cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 1/2 cups dry stuffing mix

1/4 butter melted

salt and pepper

Place chicken breast in crock pot (i even put mine in frozen). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour chicken broth and soup over chicken breasts. Place a cheese slice on each chicken breast. Pour stuffing over top of everything. Pour melted butter over stuffing mix. Cook for 3 hours on high (may need a bit longer depending on the intensity of your crockpot-mine cooks fast).

Fifth: If you are looking for some cute downloadable and printable Valentines I just found these via One Pretty Thing. I printed off a sheet for niece and nephew and cut them out to make them into a little book. I think they are some of the cutest printable Valentines I have seen.

Cost of shipping?

I wonder how much it would cost to ship her anywhere in the continental United States? Or internationally to Canada for that matter? Not that I want to ship her anywhere (okay well not most of the time!)

Tissued be my Valentine

Thanks to some help from some readers I chose "Tissued be my Valentine" to go with these little Kleenix Tissue pouches I made for Small Fry to give to her nursery teachers, and grandmas for Valentines day. Go here for the instructions to make the tissue pouches (super easy).

Amish Baked Oatmeal

Now here is a recipe that you don't have to disguise, or trick anyone into eating. Amish Baked Oatmeal. I am not an oatmeal fan (well unless it is in a cookie form). I don't like the sticky, thick, wall-paper like consistency of it all. So I only eat it if I am starving (like on a campout or something). But this kind of oatmeal is fantastic. It is not mushy, sticky, or glue like in any way. It has a dry consistency once it is done baking and then you can add milk and sugar or fruit to it as you wish. Even small fry gobbled it up. I don't have a picture so you will just have to take my word for it. Some of my friends who read this blog have tried it and I know they have loved it. And I can guarantee you will too. If you have avoided oatmeal in the past, avoid no longer. You will like this.

Amish Baked Oatmeal

1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup butter melted

1 egg

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the first eight ingredients; mix well. Spread evenly in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Immediately spoon into bowls. Add milk (I recommend warm milk). Top with fruit and brown sugar. Makes 6 servings.

Picky Eaters

Just something that has been on my mind. I was reading in a recent parenting magazine an article about helping your picky eater and this one I actually liked because the list of foods that it gave that your child might actually like included things like yogurt, fruit, veggies with dip and smoothies and not "macaroni and cheese with goat cheese and butternut squash chunks." That doesn't even sound good to any right minded adult. I digress. But one thing that it mentioned to help your picky eater learn to try new foods was to sneak them into things that he or she already likes, like adding pureed carrots to spaghetti sauce and then after they eat it telling them that it had carrots in it and that they ate them and that it didn't kill them. My thought is, "do they really need to know?" I like the idea of sneaking foods into other foods. I do it-sometimes even to help me get enough veggies or other healthy foods in. I add pureed cauliflower to banana bread and macaroni and cheese or scalloped potatoes. I add carrots in with tomato sauce things. I put a cup of whole wheat flour in with the muffins or pumpkin bread. But I say put it in there and let the kids eat it and go on with life. Then some day when you are making it and they see you adding the carrots and they say, "but I don't like carrots" you can say, "I always put carrots in this and you have been eating them for a year." I don't like the "a ha-I got you, I fooled you and see you liked it and you lived" kind of mentality. Maybe it is because that has happened to me too often. I was a picky child, and I am still a picky adult (though there are worse) and I don't think it is the end of the world. I remember when I was like 14 or something and my best friend and came to Utah to visit my aunt and uncle. I was shocked they said we could come and then the first day we got there at dinner when I didn't want to eat one of the things she had on the table (though I ate everything else) I got the, "if you are going to stay here for a few weeks, you are going to have to learn to eat everything" lecture. And right then and there I knew the reason why she said it was okay that I come, because she was planning on breaking me of my picky eating habit. Well I showed her. Years later when I was a senior in University and was student teaching and finishing up a couple of classes I ended up living with said aunt and uncle and once again my aunt thought that I just needed to eat everything including mushrooms. And I do not care for mushrooms at all, I think they are rubbery and slimy and gross and don't want to have anything to do with them. But she was determined. She told me flat out (and she doesn't read this blog so I can share this) that everything in my life would be better if I ate mushrooms from my acne clearing up to getting more dates. And she put mushrooms in everything for an entire week and I took those slimy suckers off everything for an entire week and she finally gave up and I did get married, my skin cleared up and I have two beautiful kids-no thanks to mushrooms I might add.
My in-laws also pulled the "I'll trick you" idea with lamb. They got this lamb and wanted to know if we wanted some. I said we didn't. We had very little room in our freezer and what room we did have I wanted to fill with meat I enjoy like bacon, hamburgers, chicken, steak, ribs, ham-not lamb. So I said I didn't want any and that besides that I didn't really like it anyway. I had tried lamb before and it wasn't on the top of my list. Well they invited us over for "roast" one afternoon and after it was finished my father in law said, "wasn't that great lamb" and I said, "it wasn't lamb" and he said, "oh yes it was." Well I admitted full well that it was good, but I didn't ask for any lamb for my freezer then nor have I since or will I. It did nothing to make me want it more. I don't like those trick you kind of games. I don't think they work. Well, I know they don't work on stuborrn kids/adults like me.
So my point is-just because we are parents doesn't mean we have to exert some power trip over our little kids and say, "I will show you that you like....," just cook the darn food, add the secret ingredients and get on with life. Put some carrots on the table too, offer variety, try new things and lay off the guilt trips if your kid doesn't want to eat everything. Trust me, even those who are picky eaters graduate from college, get married, have jobs and children and do just fine in life.