Vegeturkeyan

For the last couple of weeks, Levi has been telling everyone he sees that he is the world's only "vegeturkeyan." I think that word provides a good description of Levi--he has always been highly creative with language, and extremely limited with his palate.

"Picky eater" doesn't even begin to describe his food choices.

Other than some occasional chicken nuggets, and sometimes a McDonald's cheeseburger, turkey is the only real meat Levi will eat. Oh, he eats highly processed meats, like crisp bacon, hot dogs, Vienna sausages (those little mushy hot dogs that come in a can), and beef jerky. He loves beef jerky! But he says that none of those are really meat, and I am inclined to agree with him about that.

Levi quit eating fish after we took him fishing for the first time. He loves to make himself a tuna sandwich, though. Please don't make the mistake of calling it a tuna fish sandwich, because I don't want him to stop eating tuna due to a technicality!

We used to insist that Levi try a bite or two of whatever meat I was serving, but I've given up on that. It's no longer worth the drama. Instead, he gets adequate protein from bean burritos and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He loves eggs, sunny side up, or deviled. And now that he is no longer allergic to milk, he can have cheese whenever he wants it, and a glass of chocolate milk at meal time.

Levi has always loved fruit and raw vegetables, but peas, lima beans, potatoes, and sometimes corn, are the only cooked veggies he will eat. He refuses to eat casseroles or soups of any kind, or anything that just might have a little onion in it. Thank goodness he likes bread. But unfortunately, he never met any junk food or dessert that he doesn't love.

Surprisingly, both Levi and Victoria like to go out for sushi. Like me, Levi sticks to edamame (soy beans) and California rolls without the raw fish, but Victoria joins Bill in eating the beautiful rainbow rolls, served with a variety of raw fish on top.

I'm not going to get into great detail about Victoria's food choices. Let's just say that her eating habits tend to be the opposite of Levi's. She loves meat, but fruits and vegetables, not at all. Victoria is a true carnivore.

And me? I've turned into a short order cook.