Yesterday Chef Issa made a side dish of squash for lunch. Amazing, delicious squash. As in, I'd never tasted such good squash before!! And you didn't want to try it.
You, sweet two-year-old Miriam, were more than happy with your pasta. Your plain bow-tie pasta. With no sauce. And no flavor. You asked for seconds of it, and we gave you some. Then you asked for thirds, and I drew the line. I said, "Yes, you may have more pasta but you need to try the squash first. It's SO yummy!!" You shook your head, determined that you would not like a new dish.
I tried everything. I said that after you took a bite -- just one small bite -- of squash you could also have the bread you wanted. You could eat the fruit salad that interested you. Just one bite!! How hard could it be? But you kept shaking your head, saying, "No squash." I tried calling it "veggie" instead of "squash." I tried asking you to close your eyes so you wouldn't see what it looked like. Nothing worked.
And then I struck gold!
I decided to try turning this into a fun game of "taste testing." I demonstrated this new game by closing my eyes and letting Ethan stick bite after bite into my mouth, calling out a food name after each one. You were intrigued! After my turn, Ethan demonstrated, too, and then you were ready to give it a go!
You squeezed your eyes shut and opened your mouth wide. Ethan gave you a bite of fruit salad, and you excitedly said, "Apple!" He followed up with a bite of cucumber and you said, "Cupepper!" After a taste of tomato, you finally got to a bite of the much-dreaded (but very delicious) squash. And you liked it!! You identified it as "Squash!" easily but when I asked if you wanted another bite of it, you said, "Yes!" We'd gotten you past your mental block. Success!
And then the cutest part of the whole meal was that you continued the Taste Test for the rest of your food. We stopped feeding you and were even ready to give you the pasta and bread you'd originally asked for. But you liked the Taste Test and so kept giving yourself bites of fruit and veggies, each time closing your eyes after you'd taken your bite, pausing to chew and then happily proclaiming what it was you'd just eaten. You were truly taken with this idea of eating as a game.
I get a lot wrong these days. Our whole family struggles on a daily basis to help you with this tricky transition to independence. But we also LOVE you to pieces, and so I'm always happy when we get something right. For the most part, you enjoy eating and you've even taken to listing all the foods you like by saying, "I LIKE cupepper. I LIKE apple." Now we have a way to help you when you have a chance encounter with a food you think you don't like. I hope it works again!
You, sweet two-year-old Miriam, were more than happy with your pasta. Your plain bow-tie pasta. With no sauce. And no flavor. You asked for seconds of it, and we gave you some. Then you asked for thirds, and I drew the line. I said, "Yes, you may have more pasta but you need to try the squash first. It's SO yummy!!" You shook your head, determined that you would not like a new dish.
I tried everything. I said that after you took a bite -- just one small bite -- of squash you could also have the bread you wanted. You could eat the fruit salad that interested you. Just one bite!! How hard could it be? But you kept shaking your head, saying, "No squash." I tried calling it "veggie" instead of "squash." I tried asking you to close your eyes so you wouldn't see what it looked like. Nothing worked.
And then I struck gold!
I decided to try turning this into a fun game of "taste testing." I demonstrated this new game by closing my eyes and letting Ethan stick bite after bite into my mouth, calling out a food name after each one. You were intrigued! After my turn, Ethan demonstrated, too, and then you were ready to give it a go!
You squeezed your eyes shut and opened your mouth wide. Ethan gave you a bite of fruit salad, and you excitedly said, "Apple!" He followed up with a bite of cucumber and you said, "Cupepper!" After a taste of tomato, you finally got to a bite of the much-dreaded (but very delicious) squash. And you liked it!! You identified it as "Squash!" easily but when I asked if you wanted another bite of it, you said, "Yes!" We'd gotten you past your mental block. Success!
And then the cutest part of the whole meal was that you continued the Taste Test for the rest of your food. We stopped feeding you and were even ready to give you the pasta and bread you'd originally asked for. But you liked the Taste Test and so kept giving yourself bites of fruit and veggies, each time closing your eyes after you'd taken your bite, pausing to chew and then happily proclaiming what it was you'd just eaten. You were truly taken with this idea of eating as a game.
I get a lot wrong these days. Our whole family struggles on a daily basis to help you with this tricky transition to independence. But we also LOVE you to pieces, and so I'm always happy when we get something right. For the most part, you enjoy eating and you've even taken to listing all the foods you like by saying, "I LIKE cupepper. I LIKE apple." Now we have a way to help you when you have a chance encounter with a food you think you don't like. I hope it works again!
2 comments:
That's so fun! Good job, baby girl, and good job, Mama!!
Thank you!
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