<human>: Give me a shortened version of the text

So we've been trying to get our two year old to eat new things. Ketchup and ranch dressing works sometimes... pureed veggies in a smoothie works great, but obviously I'd rather him try them how mom and dad eat them. 

This evening we tried to get him to try Gnocchi... holy cow, you'd think we were trying to give him poison. He would not even taste it. Ketchup didn't work... so I thought, SPRINKLES! nope, he looked a bit more interested, but pushed the plate away and refused.

So I tried to reason with him. I remember reading somewhere about a "no thank you bite." Basically meaning he would get something else other than that if he just took one no thank you bite. 

That resulted in a 30 minute meltdown where mom and dad didn't give in. Finally we gave him a 5 minute time... basically just til he cooled off and stopped crying. 

We did give in at the end and he ate a food he was more familiar with, and without any fuss. 

Tomorrow the plan is to try the gnocchi again, but this time we'll pair it with a food he likes.

Are we on the right track? Any other tips? tricks? 

He has daycare during the day and I think part of the problem may be his snacktime. I think he packs away a lot of snack type stuff before he comes home. I'm not worried about his weight or anything... he definitely eats... I just want him to be able to try new foods without a nuclear meltdown.
<bot>: Son is a picky eater. Ketchup, ranch, sprinkles don't have a great success rate... looking for other ideas, and suggestions.