This will be what I call a Grandmother Post, as in you may have to be C’s grandmother to be interested. We are going to talk about her diet.
In detail.
Fair warning.
I am the proud owner of a terrific eater. And yes, I own my child. I lug that incredibly leggy toddler around like an expensive purse. Only I don’t put my tube of lipstick in her mouth like it’s the little zipper pouch inside the bag.
What.
C eats really well. She has yet to go on a macaroni and cheese hunger strike, which is good because my husband has some strange aversion to the boxed variety and starts retching whenever he sees an ad for it on TV. I don’t even know. I ceased making separate meals for her once she turned one and now she eats little bitty portions of whatever we’re having. This is a win-win situation because I don’t have to work at making an extra set of kid food, and I’m more motivated to make something halfway healthy, ie. no mayonnaise sandwiches. Not that I ever ate mayo sandwiches to begin with, but you know. Small victories and all. I also never murdered anyone.
*Pats self on back.*
Most mornings, she has yogurt with fruit and cereal. For awhile, I was buying her little readimade fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt cups because one of those super couponing people gave me a TON of coupons while I was staring at the massive yogurt selection at the grocery store. Seriously. She was one of those people who carries around massive file binders full of coupons at the store and buys like 74 rolls of Bounty and 38 boxes of frozen garlic bread and ends up paying $2.75 for her entire purchase. But who am I to judge because she gave me a fat stack of coupons for a brand I occasionally buy, claiming that she only buys the kind with M&Ms. Can’t judge her for that. Anyway, we finally ran out of coupons, and since I’m not going to clip them myself because I’m too busy thinking about blog posts I could write about Bob the Builder and how one of the little songs on that show reminds me of “Like a Virgin”, we are back to good ol’ plain yogurt mixed with Cherrios and blueberries I’ve cooked down a little into a thick, syrupy consistency. She likes it.
Post-breakfast pic. Also, who is the mom who just now updated her little one-ply infant spittup bibs to proper scoopy toddler bibs? It’s me, it’s me.
Lunch and dinner menus are pretty interchangeable. She usually has something proteiny like peanut butter, beans, or a little pork or beef if we have it around. She likes whole wheat bread, pasta, cucumber, tomatoes, strawberries, chickpeas, and cheese. AND BANANAS. Oh Lordy, does she like bananas! She really likes pesto, so sometimes I spread some on a piece of toast and put some sundried tomatoes on it and melt a little cheese. Yum. I may or may not totally bogart her meals those days.
The best thing about eating the same thing as her is that it gives me the excuse to buy really good, high-quality, grass-fed, free-range, ubiquitously-hyphenated meats. I’m pretty sure I’ve told you before about how we live literally 45 minutes from the largest pork packing plant in the world. And I’m not exaggerating. The entire world. So suffice it to say, there is a ton of scary cheap genetically-modified pork in these parts. We instead pay a bit more for the good stuff at the farmer’s market because you can’t put a price tag on unknowingly eating pig snouts. We talk to the guy who raises it and feel good knowing that we’re supporting him and not putting nasty hormoney animals that lead miserable existences in our bodies.
Salads have made a major resurgence in our lives as of late. B dislikes many salads so I imagine salads and macaroni got together and bullied him when he was a teen. What an after-school special that would have made. C likes salads, though, and she often joins us when we eat baby spinach sprinkled with goat cheese, cranberries, and walnuts. I put a little vinaigrette on it and she om-noms it. She also likes spinach sauteed in a little olive oil and garlic, since she’s a gourmet and all. Or a freak of nature? Let’s stick with gourmet.
Snacks are where this child really shines. Sometimes I fear that her tongue isn’t working properly because some of the things she really shouldn’t like are her faves. B and I are obsessed with wasabi peas because we like to pretend we’re exotic and fancy when we eat them. We usually class-up our feeding frenzy by dropping most of them on the floor. C inevitably gets them and goes.to.town. She licks them and swirls them around in her mouth. She is also a big fan of limes and lemons. The tarter, the better. She sucks on them and then usually comes to ask for more once she’s efficiently removed a couple layers of enamel off her seven baby teeth.
C’s first round with Korean food was a big success. Truth: her diaper was a little rough the next day.
B and I don’t pretend to have anything to do with C’s very open palate. We are both equally amazed at mealtimes when she actually eats most of what is put in front of her. It will definitely be a confusing and sad day for us when she learns that Dora the Explorer yogurt exists and refuses to eat anything else.
What else should I offer to her? What are some strange foods your kids like?
The Waiting 
Yay, Cee!! Sonia and Cee eat very similarly. I try to give Sonia whatever we eat, too. She has started going through weird little aversions, though, as she approaches 2. She loves bananas, but refuses them some days. Certain days it seems like she will only eat one meal and the rest end up on the floor, but I’ve read that’s normal and as long as you get one solid meal in you’re fine. The only unfortunate thing is that she has been introduced to French fries and ketchup and she LOVES them. So now if she won’t eat something, just pour some ketchup on it and its gone. Lol So gross.
Hahaha! My brother ate ketchup with everything when he was a kid too. He would always put it all over fish and broccoli. Yum?
I hope she never discovers Dora yogurt. I hope she keeps eating all those lovely, healthful foods. But in my head, I’m saying, “just you wait.”
Don’t I know it. The clock is just ticking. She rarely ever goes to the grocery store with me and doesn’t really watch any channel other than PBS, so at least she won’t hear about Dora there. It’s those dang other kids that ruin them.
From the time she was a wee toddler, my daughter, now an oldster with old teens of her own, LOVED bagels and lox. Yes, lox, with onions. My boyfriend at the time gave her a giant bagel with lox and cream cheese and onions for her third birthday. She was thrilled. She had been eating this combo since she was two. She still loves it. I guess she always will. A strange thing for a two-year old to like, but there it is.
That sounds so good! I will have to try that out with C! She has never had salmon but I have no reason to think she wouldn’t like it. And with some capers too! She’ll love that.
And the blueberries match her bib!
(Unless it’s because her bib is soaked in them…)
We are all about the purple in our house.
Can’t wait for C. to try greens, blackeyed peas, and cornbread. Those are Grammy’s favorites!
Mom AKA Grammy
She will love them! I’m fairly sure she’s had black eyed peas before, and she really liked them. You should make her some Dixie Caviar ;)
My kids were great eaters when they were little; they got to toddler age and started being fussy. My 3 year old daughter will normally eat anything but sometimes she’s a bit fussy.
Pitta and humous was a winner with her. Butternutt squash and red pepper soup too. My son loved bananas too!
Red pepper soup sounds fantastic! I will have to try that one! It sounds like it would be great chilled, like gazpacho.
C sounds like a great eater! Embrace it!!! Like you said – kids can turn on a dime. My son loved Indian food from the first piece of Naan in his 3 yr old mouth to the last bite of saag – we are lucky he still loves Indian food b/c a lot of the good things he ate as a toddler he now will pass on – but he’s game to try anything! I do miss his love of oatmeal – he would eat that for any meal and was so easy. I remember when he stopped wanting it for dinner and my husband chided me (good naturedly) for ‘changing his foods’ rather than realizing his little guy was growing up :)
C had Indian food last night! She’s had saag paneer many times (its so easy to prepare so I make it a couple times a month.) At first I was afraid to give her curries and even mild vindaloo because I was afraid it would hurt her stomach, but she completely devoured them.
you started her off good with Korean to build the belly fire!
Same here. When Danell doesn’t want to eat you know something’s really wrong. He eats more than me sometimes. I don’t know where he leaves it.
Hahahha! Has he had a pickled herring?
Hahaha! No! Me and my wife are the only people in this country that HATE pickled herring!
So funny you know about that, though!
Wow, all that solid food! It’s good for kids, I hear. P and V were both very open minded about food …for a while. Now they stick to their seven or so “safe” foods. If they could eat white bread all day with a side of chocolate chips, they would. Everything else has become exotic.
I would eat that too. Chocolate chip cookies will likely be what kills me.
Ugh. Can you send her over here and teach Little A a thing or two? He’s a terrible eater. Maybe she could teach me a thing or two while she’s at it…I wouldn’t eat half the stuff she does!
One time when she was just transitioning to solids, I made her the worst dinner ever of puréed broccoli and yogurt (I really don’t know what the hell I was thinking.) I think by comparison everything else is delicious. That dinner will haunt her dreams.
My C is extremely picky and right now I can only get him to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Well, besides, cookies, M&M’s, and potato chips. He’ll eat those all day.
I cannot blame him at all for the peanut butter. I will never lose all my baby weight as long as it continues to taste so good.
It’s quite the conspiracy. I can’t make him a sandwich without having some.
I am just about falling out of my chair imagining macaroni and salads bullying Ben in high school! But I will pull myself together long enough to say: hurray for C!
Well, you know, he did go to school in Memphis. Stranger things have happened.
Yay for adventurous eating, and yay for pocket bibs!
Don’t be alarmed or think you have done anything wrong if she gets to an age where she begins to refuse old favorites. It’s normal. You’ve already got her eating a wide variety, so she’ll come back to that eventually.
Then again, she may never hit that stage at all, and you can gloat. Because I would. I would gloat on national TV if my two year old ate what I put in front of them!
I usually find when she’s reluctant to eat something, it’s more of a control thing. Like, if I hand her a cup of milk and she bats it away, I just put it next to her and she goes to it on her own. Sometimes at meals where we have to use a spoon she gets irritated when I feed her, but once I just give he the spoon and allow her to try to feed herself, she is a lot happier.
That’s such a great thing. To not worry about messes and just let them do it themselves!
Aw, look at her go, love those sweet pictures. My son would only willingly eat stuff that was brown. Bread, chicken, potatoes. He’s almost 11 now and thankfully got out of that habit. My daughter would eat anything at all we put in front of her as a baby, and still does. Her all-time fave thing to eat are strawberries, she’ll eat bowls of them– not exotic but still very good for you. Could be worse!
C really loves strawberries! I almost bought us a little strawberry plant last week so she can see where they come from. Then my husband pointed out that our third floor apartment patio may not be the best cultivation spot. I’m going back anyway and buying it ;)
What a great eater!!! So awesome. Logan is a good eater as well – hopefully he stays that way, and wee Cee too!
I always want to take credit for her eating but I know I have nothing to do with it. We all just lucked out!
I don’t have any advice at all on what she should be eating. Have you had apple pizza from Papa John’s? It’s the greatest. Probably not for a baby though.
My best friend eats Lunchables everyday for lunch. The point, no matter what she eats now she’ll end up eating like a child when she’s 25.
I totally ate like I was a child when I was 25. I’m pretty sure I ate PopTarts and chicken nuggets every day. And yet I was thin as a rail.
C is for Cutie pie. I admit that I have long bragged that my kids have always been good, adventurous eaters because I NEVER catered to baby, toddler, child demands. They eat what we are eating. Last night my 16 year old said: “Mom, I don’t think I’m ever going to like asparagus.” Alas, Little Man, you will eat them until you move out and cook your own food. Or, get up and make yourself a salad… whichever comes first. Good mommy. You’re a good mommy.
He doesn’t like asparagus? I will gladly eat his portion! It is my favorite. C likes it too so remind him of that next time he’s pushing it away. If it’s good enough for a 13MO, it’s good enough for him ;D
Um yeah, that will probably really impress a 16 year old boy… Not! Cute as she is. ;-)
I am filled with envy. This is what Speaker7 Jr. eats: bread.
Oh and pancakes, which is essentially bread covered in sticky sugar. If he ate anything green, I think I would pass out from shock.
What about that green ketchup? Maybe that could slowly warm him up to the more serious green food.
I usually gloss over or stray away from the ‘what my babe’s eating’ posts – I’m sure it’s one of those things only mothers understand – but you’re pretty hilarious & I think it’s pretty good even though I’m not C’s grandmother :)
Awwww, thanks Mariette. ;D Thanks for sticking through this one with me. You definitely earned some brownie points!
That is awesome! My nephew used to eat anything and everything, and he mostly still will, but now it all has to be liberally doused with ketchup and salt and pepper first. I’m not really sure where that came from. Also, he used to LOVE sweet potatoes, and now he won’t touch them. (But I hate them, too, so I can’t really fault him for that.)
I swear we have the exact same palate. First the mutual hatred of raisins and now sweet potatoes. I really, REALLY want to like them, but everytime I eat them I end up feeling really barfy and disgusting afterwards. What is the deal? Also, what is the deal with people being obsessed with sweet potato fries? Um, gimme salty white fries any day. They need no flavor complexity.
I would like to eat at your house please!
I want that plate, too.
Dollar bin at Target. They really need to start paying me for repping their establishment.
They really do.
I feel like I am so behind on your blog. Ehhh. I have a picky eater so I cannot help you out any. She does love spicy food though. Like an entire box of cinnamon altoids spicy. literally.
She is my kind of girl! I used to live on those Altoids in college. I had a tin-a-day habit. I finally had to go to AA (Altoids Anonymous).
So, I shouldn’t send you a box of altoids with my first snail mail letter. noted.
C’s a budding gourmet and if I recall correctly, a budding Beatles’ fan. Barely a year old and she is showing signs of impeccable taste. I’m impressed! Maybe her generation will be the one that saves the planet.
I certainly hope so! I thought she had great taste in film too when she was carrying Metropolis around the apartment, but then she smashed it in half. I guess you can’t win them all.
That robot in Metropolis is disturbing. Therefore, I still have complete faith in your spawn. When the time is right (say, when she’s 30), you guys must watch Manhattan together. It’s my favorite Woody Allen tribute to my city and it seduced me into moving here. Of course 42 year old Ike falling in love with 17-year-old Tracy was rather prescient (even though Soon Yi is actually 35 years younger than the Woodman). You don’t have to point out that factoid to C even when she is 30.
You are very, very luck. Our downfall came when my son got to eat boxed mac and cheese at the sitters. It has been miserable ever since!
That’s totally my fear! One day we’ll have to introduce her to the wild and she’ll adopt the strange habits of all the native wildlife ;D
It is a completely valid fear. Be afraid. Be very afraid!
Be grateful C started young with small portions of whatever y’all are having, lest she turn into our 9 year old who refuses to entertain my laments that his teacher will call the child protective services on me if he continues to insist on bringing a butter sandwich with no fiber or roughage for lunch. Why, just yesterday our conversation was, “NO, you can’t take 3 bags of Gardettos for lunch…” C is off to a great start!
Awesome pics! C is as much a cutie as her creator!
“I own my child”. LOL!! :O)