The Hunger Strike Continues

For the past month, Brady has been very picky about eating. He used to eat so much, we were scrambling to come up with new foods to add to his repertoire. He would gobble down baby raviolis and eat an entire Gerber meal in addition to applesauce or yogurt at every meal. Now the only meal we can count on him eating every day is breakfast. He will eat his cereal without any screaming on his part, or coaxing on our part. He takes in a decent amount of liquids every day, with about 20 ounces of milk and sometimes some apple juice in addition, but he doesn't take in many solids. For example, all he has eaten today was his morning cereal and half a Gerber meal of mashed potatoes, chicken, and carrots. He started screaming when I offered him yogurt and this evening protested even being put in his chair. My mom mentioned that he's exerting his independence and suggested that we allow him to eat while running around (which in my mind screams choking hazard). We have tried this, and it has led to numerous stains on our carpets when he takes a bite of food and then immediately spits it out. He hardly ever asks for food, so I can only assume he doesn't have much of an appetite. There are days here and there where he does eat a decent amount, but they happen once every other week or so. He's currently at 22lb., which is less than a pound more than he weighed in at his last doctors appointment two whole months ago. If he was a girl, this weight would be perfectly around the 50th percentile, but since he's a boy, this places him under the 25th percentile for weight. He's still wearing 9-12 month pants (which are labeled 20.5-24.5lb), and at this rate he'll grow out of them in 4-5 months. If he was shorter, he'd still make the weight limit on his baby carrier car seat.