Christy, your daughter isn't going through what my son has (he has an eating disorder...yes at age 3 and has had since two weeks after birth). My son goes to bed at 10 and sleeps to 9. That's what he needs for sleep :) he also takes a nap now (he didn't sleep more than 15 mins at a time the first year and never more than an hour at a time for the next year and a half so he owes me naps until he's 40). I think swapping out the meals (snack with you, "dinner" when you were doing that snack) is a great solution. But just for grins and giggles, I'll share some of my son's lessons (we spent three months in the hospital with therapists and doctors learning to eat). First, I wouldn't try the big guns since it sounds like your daughter is healthy. If this issue is causing a dangerous weight loss (more than 10%) big guns are necessary...but again ;) It does not sound like that's the case. So for the little guns :) Those hugs and napkin drops are control issues and you need to learn to be tough about them. If she drops her napkin, do not pick it up without the help being earned. Ie "dropped napkin...complaint" then you say, I'll pick it up after you take a bite. Do not address the issue beyond that. Don't ask her to take a bite again, do not pick up the napkin, do not give her a hug, do not laugh if she trys to preform her way out of the situation, just move along and eat, and even if she's screaming like a banshee...don't touch the napkin. Yes that's hard, but it's a big deal. That alone has made a huge difference in getting our son to eat (he's chronic fail to thrive so we do use the big gun techniques as well). If she takes the bite, immediately pick up the napkin and return it to her, or give her the hug or whatever it was that she was stuck on :) And say "Good Job taking that bite" with great enthusiam, and make sure this comes from both you and your husband. She's 3...that positive attention (on the YEA ON THE BITE reaction) is going to be a big deal to her. If she drops the napkin, wants the hug, whatever, do it all over again. We do it aproximately 40 times a meal..or did. The great thing about this technique is eventually they don't need the over abundant praise after each bite. And you don't end up with the power struggle. Many of the kids in our feeding program developed their problems in the toddler years. The stubborn little poops like control, and they can learn to turn off their hunger drive (my son has no natural hunger drive at all). You've nothing to worry about if this is only a dinner time thing...but if it extends to other meals, you have to nip it in the bud big time, and really, this is a good time to start so it doesn't extend as she continues to struggle to gain control of her life. There is no answer for every solution. Every child is different, and some have bigger issues than others. Bed times vary per child, and that's ok. Eating times do as well. And eating patterns, and even eating habits. We are so thrilled if our son eats voluntarily that I could give rip what he eats...that means we don't limit his food to "healt6hy food". If he wants an M&M while we're eating dinner (he joins us at the table late as well, but he only has his chosen snacks which he mostly plays with) we're happy to see him eat the M&M. He needs the calories. Unlike most children though, while he's allowed as many M&M's as he wants, he rarely eats more than a couple. Anyhoo, I'm a professional "mom" who's spent over a million bucks on my son's eating disorder, so I just wanted to share a trick that made a big difference for us (and one we saw work with all of the other kids as well). It's hard as a parent to listen to your child scream for whatever it is they want...but it's a control issue on your side too :) They can't always win (my son is 3 now...I totally get how much they try to win LOL) Best of luck!!!

It's really hard to suggest something without having some idea of what types of things he likes. My dad was a very fussy eater. When my mother died there was a similar situation. Not motivated is a good way to put it, but let's face it. He's probably still grieving and just doesn't really feel like eating and I assume cooking is a foreign concept to him. I know some people go crazy at the idea of convenience foods but isn't it better than nothing? What about a local deli? Get a rotisserie chicken and some side dishes. Pick up (or make) a turkey breast, small ham, roast or something and have some nice sandwiches. There's some decent canned soups, stews, chili, etc, even canned potatoes, veggies and the like. I take it he never has had to cook for himself? Perhaps therein lies the problem. Too often people try to force someone to make overly fancy "nutritious" meals when it's far better to start slow with something he'll feel confident making for himself. Maybe it's nothing more than a fried hamburger, a bagged salad, some instant potatoes and the like. Then maybe someone can show him how easy it is to take that hamburger, mix it with some cooked pasta, add some tomatoes and seasoning and you have a completely different dish. Then sometime, now that you know how to cook pasta, take some of the leftover chicken, mix it in instead of hamburger, etc. Another thing comes to mind is a crockpot or a Nesco roaster. Pot roast, potatoes, onions, carrots... chicken, or a turkey breast (or drumsticks if he likes dark meat, a small ham. Many people are apprehensive about a microwave. If you know how to use one, they're useful, but I don't rate it as a great cooking appliance. It's a utensil. I think a crockpot, Nesco or even a good set of cookware (non-stick - easy to clean) is a far better investment. But if you go with a microwave, definitely get the dial version. Someone new to cooking will be intimidated by having to program in the software code for Mecroshaft Wanders in order to heat a can of soup! An idea for an appliance that I use a lot is a convection oven. Mine is one of the simple little ones that's like a big glass dutch oven and the heat unit is in the cover. You set it on top and set the time and temp, flip down the handle and you're cooking. This is a mini oven. It bakes fabulous potatoes, makes pizza rolls in 6 minutes, warms things and you put a few quarts of water in it, add a couple drops of dish liquid and turn it on warm for a few minutes and it splashes ir around and pretty much cleans itself. OK, you do scrub it a bit if something is burned on, but especially when it's new it's not a problem and you can always line it with foil. I do that and cook bacon in it. It came with a second level rack to do 2 things but the hot stuff will be on top. I use it on one level. I've been known to use this together with the microwave and the stove to make a meal. One of my points that's maybe getting lost is to sit down and figure out what things he likes and doesn't like. How much time does he have, how much experience he has, etc. Then work on fitting some things in. And the first time you have one part of a plate cold while the other side is overcooked in a microwave, you'll soon quit using a microwave for cooking. Low and slow and you can keep an eye on things. And run less risk of burning, overcooking or failure in general. I'll say from experience, a SIMPLE, home made, or semi-homemade meal is FAR superior than the McDonald's drivethru. Tater tot hotdish may send chills up some peoples' spines but compared to what Mayor McCheese puts out... I'll take tater tots! Another thought, bacon & eggs? Omelets? Fritatta? Even a platter of sausage, cheese, veggie sticks and the like can be an enjoyable meal. There's times I just don't feel like cooking. But I will slice some sausage and cheese. Or take some bagged salad, add some cheese, tear up some deli meats and have a pseudo chef's salad. Especially with summer here pasta salads are good eats. Don't overlook good quality hot dogs or sausage. Brown & serve sausage and eggs, with a side of Simply Potatoes? Another thought for ideas is to look at the TV dinners he's getting. That should give an idea of what he likes. And you're more willing to learn to make something you LIKE than something you SHOULD eat. Again, I think it's more important that he get a start than to worry about it being the nutrionally perfectly balanced meal. Face it, this country doesn't eat right and we won't change that overnight. BTW, does he take vitamins? That might be a good idea. I've been cooking for one person for over 30 years. (OK occasionally 2 and for a little while more but that wasn't long). Groceries aren't sold for one person cooking but it's getting better. You can buy potatoes, onions and some things individually now but a head of cabbage, head of lettuce, stalk of celery, etc, and of course the 20# turkeys, 5# roasts, meat sold in bulk packs, etc, get real. But I digress. I'm just trying to say that for a first time cook it can be intimidating. Nuff of that. I'm hoping this is some help. I'll go through some of my menu idea lists and post back some of the things I have on there for ideas. Good luck!

While raising my two DD's, yes I planned for a week of meals. Now, with just DH and I, I shop once a week for the staples and get supplies for 3 meals. Things always come up! Tonight for example, DH is taking his sister to a doctor's appointment and won't be home for dinner. So, I'll eat leftovers tonight. I try to have things in the freezer. if you are near a Trader Joe's, they have quite a few good quality frozen items that you can use in a pinch. I like their turkey bolognese sauce, the vegetable fried rice, a Italian vegetable medley, even their mandarin chicken is good. (I don't use the sauce though) I always have frozen tortellini or ravioli on hand as well. For us, dinner can also be just an omelet when we want to cook light.

The weather is finally cooling some here, at least at night. It's making morning exercise more pleasant. I've been doing great with running and swimming. Still not achieving my weight lifting goals. Just too busy with work during the day and then finding myself busy at night and unable to find a second exercise window. I'm continuing 5:2 intermittent fasting and doing ok. Not sure if I'm cutting down snacking as much as I should. Went on a few weekend trips and ate pretty well, so that seems like a positive. Managed very moderate alcohol intake even when surrounded by people imbibing quite a bit. On one of the weekend trips my husband and I spent hours walking (to a museum, in the museum, then around a nearby community garden) and ride-share biking (back from the museum instead of using Uber/Lyft). It was nice to be quite active while also enjoying site-seeing in a new city. I am currently on a running sports bra quest. My beloved Brooks Rebound Racer has been discontinued and I am devastated. I've ordered probably 5 sports bras and rejected most of them. I don't understand why Brooks got rid of this very popular really phenomenal sports bra. So many of the high intensity bras have moved to this weird foam layer, including Brooks. Sizing is really confusing too. I measure one size but that seems to be too big. I think my swimming has caused the measurement just below the armpits to be a little larger, while the actual band underneath needs to be smaller. It's all very frustrating and confusing.