the Kaper strikes again.

Do you ever have one of those days when you think as a Mom  you are just practicing trial and error? Kaleb, my sweet youngest, has waged war on me in the food department. He won't eat ANYTHING I put in front of him. Josh, he's easy... even if he doesn't like it, all I have to do is say 'who will finish first?' and he complies in order to win the race, or I offer a yummy desert and he will eat through the dinner in order to get the treat. Kaper however, he's stubborn and nothing I do works. Last night during dinner he simply refused to eat. I put a potato on his fork and said that he had to eat at least that bite before he could get down and play, otherwise he would sit at the table until bed time (2 hours away). Now, for those of you who have stubborn kids you know that if you draw a line you absolutely have to stand firm and the kid HAS to be the first to cross the line. As soon as the words were out of my mouth I knew that it was going to be a loooooong evening. As it turned out, last night we only had to sit for an hour before he finally caved and ate the stupid potato and then only because I let Josh sit down to watch Kaper's favorite movie and he wanted to watch it too. (Yes, I fully acknowledge and accept that I manipulated my son...). This morning, I asked him if he wanted his cereal with milk, he said yes, I poured the milk into the cereal and put the bowl in front of him... and he quickly pushed the bowl away and said that isn't what he wanted. So we sat. He was still screaming about it when he left for school this morning.

How do I get my kid to eat? Not just healthy food either... at this stage in the game I would be happy if he ate dried cereal for a meal! Is it possible that he'll simply starve? How can getting a boy to eat so hard? He used to be my best eater!! What has happened?

I do realize that his stubborn tendencies have sprung from my genes, I see myself in him daily but I have never had to deal with myself so I don't know how to deal with him. When I am stubborn I just don't give in, but how do people deal with me when I am being stubborn? ARGH! I don't know what to do here!?

Help!