Trying to Feed a Picky Eater

Hello there and happy Wednesday. I have to say, I always feel weird with my greetings. I never really know how to start off, so I feel like I come across as awkward. Hopefully not, but being my awkward self I thought I would point it out to you guys. 

Anyway today I just wanted to share a personal battle I have going on, against a picky almost 14 month old that lives in my house. I know everyone's kids are picky at one point or another, but man! This kid gives me a run for my money every day! One day he loves applesauce, then next day he acts like I'm actively trying to poison him by giving him the exact same applesauce from the same darn container.

Braxton does not want to eat anything that is not baby food unless it is pieces of chicken (turkey, pork, eggs, roast, etc..), french fries, or cucumbers. Anything else is immediately thrown off of his highchair for the dogs to battle over.

Some days it gets really frustrating because we are still buying baby food. He is still eating food that is designed for children up to 6 months younger than him. We do try to give him something with every meal, and just hope that today he will actually eat said piece of food.

Case in point: He loves bananas in baby food, he will eat the whole container and then get mad when it's gone. But, give the kid an actual banana to eat, and he hates it.

This is the "I'm not eating this and don't want it touching anything on my plate" spot. Whatever he is done with, or doesn't feel like eating ends up either here or on the floor.

We have tried everything we have read, done what other parents have suggested and even what the doctor has suggested. Nothing seems to stick, he just gets mad if we try to force anything and the meal is over. So our new motto is "just try one bite, you might like it" (if you get Treehouse, name the song). It's getting better, he is actually willing to try what we put on his plate. It's the  eating part that we are struggling with. But this wasn't surprising as it took him almost a month to eat baby cereal when we started solids.

The other thing we have been battling is constant constipation as Braxton will not drink anything. Water, milk, juice? Nope. In the last week or so he has started to pick up his sippy cup and take little drinks out of it, but I'm not holding my breath that he's going to start guzzling water anytime soon. It's just as frustrating because I know that if he would just drink something, he would feel better. So we keep trying until he either starts to drink on his own, or he understands why he is feeling bad when he doesn't drink. I am crossing my fingers that the warm weather will get him drinking voluntarily and this problem will be solved.

Rant over. Sorry to have a conversation with myself at you guys, I just felt like sharing how frustrating my days can be. Does anyone else have a picky eater? Any suggestions, because I am open to anything.

Kerby