I had a movie night with the kids the other night. Movie nights involve the kids and I sitting on the floor (or sometimes the couch) and eating dinner while watching a movie.

On this particular movie night, I was feeling lazy. Instead of cooking, we ordered pizza.

Unfortunately, my youngest was feeling obstinate. He took one look at it when it arrived and crossed his arms across his chest. “No! I don’t like pizza!”

“You don’t like pizza?”

“No! I don’t like pizza!”

“It’s your favorite food.”

“Not anymore!”

“Just try it!”

He nibbled a really tiny piece of the tip and then made a face like he was going to throw up. “Yech!”

Hm. With this particular child, once he decides something, it’s tough to change his mind. I gave in, accepting that he no longer ate pizza. We put in 101 Dalmations and settled down to watch and eat (or not, in his case). After 10 minutes or so, I noticed the little guy eying his pizza.

I picked it up. “Maybe the side tastes better?” I asked, holding it out to him.

He looked at me suspiciously and then took a bite. “Hey! Yeah! That is better!”

He started chomping away at the pizza, careful not to eat the tip or the crust. After he’d made it most of the way through, he stopped and tapped me on the shoulder “What about the other side, Daddy?”

“Try it!”

He did, and repeated his throw-up face. “I just like this side. I don’t like this side or this side or this side,” he said, rotating the pizza around and showing me each of the sides he didn’t like. “I just like this side.”

“Okay. I’ll keep that in mind next time.”

Or not.