going on strike

For some reason months 16 and 17 in the life of our son have brought on some new behavior.
Dinner strike.
I'm not sure what it is exactly about dinner time, the food is still good, colorful appetizing. And Oliver loves to eat.
Breakfast- favorite for him.
Lunch- gone just as quick.
But dinner.
Alas dinner hour brings a challenge. To EAT. Maybe it's the lateness of the hour. 5 o'clock may be late to some you know.
Maybe it's the evenings fare. Although I don't claim to be a fancy or gourmet cook.
Maybe it's the approaching bed time that seems to cloud Oliver's mind and distracts him to the point of just saying no to food.
Whatever it may be, we have found ourselves searching for ways to encourage him to eat. I understand that he will not starve if he sits through and entire meal staring at his food, only to have his tray cleared away at the end, touched or untouched by him.
But if it's becoming a nightly ritual for him I can't allow him to skip too many times. After all this seems to be developing into a pattern.
And so on this particular night he was given his dinner- fish cakes, green beans and mashed potatoes along with a baked apple.

Well the apple was of course the one thing that he wanted. Great to eat fruit, but not until the rest of the food has been eaten. Sweets (apples with cinnamon and sucanat ) are desserts.

So we tried removing the apple from sight. To no avail.
And we brought the apple back in, within view, with the rest of his food on his tray.
The approach this time- and no I don't believe you can reason with a 17 month old, that is not our parenting style- was choice.

Our conversation, " Oliver you have to eat these green beans and fish before you can have apple".
And guess what?
He started shoveling in those greens so fast we had to slow him down. Hand over fist, bean after bean and a frantic pointing at the apple when he arrived at the last bean. He was saying " dis, dis, dis!" his word for "this", while pointing at the apple hoping he could now have a delicious bite of that wonderful food!
A bite of apple later, we had him eat all of his fish before he was given the rest of his apple.
I still can't believe that he understood the concept of logic and reason. He is 17 months old.
We have to be careful here about approaching this sort of thing. We don't want him to learn that he will always receive a reward for obeying, because he won't. Encouragement and praise yes, but not special treats.
But you know what? As new parents, being first time at so many things is challenging. What exactly is the best approach for .....well whatever new situation we encounter. It's tough, and very much a daily learning experience and a daily dependence on God for wisdom in the moments!
And throughout all of it, he ate his dinner.