That's One Small Step

Kaitlyn has never been a bad eater. She has also never been a great eater. She's just in the middle. Early on, we both had some struggles.

Me:
Hum, to start with mushed bananas or mushed peas?
Pureed meat? Are you kidding me?! Go ahead and gag me now.
Can she handle half a cheerio or do I need to cut every cherrio in quarters?
No she can't have strawberries. She is only 11 months and 29 days old. You have to wait until she is a year old for strawberries. Geez, what are you trying to do, give her an allergy attack?!

Kaitlyn:
Like.
Don't like.
Like.
Don't like.
Definitely don't like.
Going to eat lots of this.
But none of that.
What is that smell? Seriously, pureed meat? Gag me now. Mom, really, why are you feeding this to me?!

But really, overall, she eats fairly well. She does eat most things I attempt to feed her and she gets a good variety of food.

However, vegetables are another story. Yes, I know typical toddler scenario: doesn't like veggies. That is why there are a bazillion "How to Puree Vegetables into Spaghetti Sauce" type cook books out there. But here was the thing I didn't understand. Kaitlyn would eat green beans, peas, carrots, you name it, from the Gerber pureed food jars. I tried fresh veggies, but she didn't like them. She would eat fresh smashed fruit, bread, meat, whatever...but not fresh veggies. Only the pureed Gerber jars. No matter how thin I could get the fresh stuff, Kaitlyn turned her nose up at it and would demand Gerber jars.

Well, when we transitioned to all solid food and quit buying the baby food and I almost decided to author the bazillion-and-one book on "How to Puree Vegetables into Spaghetti Sauce" book because this has been the only way to get her to eat veggies for the past couple weeks. Well...that and the dump-half-a-can-of-grated-parmesan-cheese-onto-a-single-stalk-of-broccoli method. That seems to work occasionally too. But, tonight we had a break through.

Not only did Kaitlyn eat a bite of cooked carrot (of all things, bleeekkkkk), she ate THREE cooked carrots. Hallelujah. And she even kept signing "more" after each one. She actually wanted MORE cooked carrots.

Ladies and Gentlemen (well probably just ladies if you are this far into the post), That's One Small Step For Mom, One Giant Leap For Kaitlyn.

I don't even think Neil Armstrong felt this good when he walked on the moon.