Coming to terms...

Ok, here's the deal. I want Chicken to be the kid who eats her vegetables when no one else does. I was that kid. My mom would pack me bizarre lunches, including the cold leftover vegetables from the night before - asparagus, broccoli, whatever. I don't know what I was like as a baby when it came to food, but I turned out to be an adventurous eater and I enjoy (even if I don't always choose) healthy foods. I want that for Chicken.

The problem is, she doesn't like green vegetables. She tosses big pieces of broccoli to the side, spits the little ones out, waves asparagus at me like, "Uh...what is this thing?"

I think the big problem is that we're in a weird in-between time with regards to handling food and actually eating it. Chicken hasn't yet developed a pincer grasp (using thumb and forefinger to pick up tiny objects one by one) so peas are frustrating, as are tiny pieces of anything that I cut up. Big pieces of vegetables or whole pieces, like green beans) are hard to bite with her four (ok, 3 1/2) teeth. Or maybe she just doesn't like the taste of them...She eats beets and mushrooms for crying out loud. Why not a bean?? To her credit, she grabs the spoon from my hand to shovel pureed carrots, beans, peas, etc into her mouth but that's no fun!

Obviously this situation causes me agita. It shouldn't. We have years and years ahead of us to taste vegetables in their many shapes, sizes, textures and flavors. So, for now, I'll keep offering her big pieces, little pieces, raw pieces, cooked pieces (one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish). I'll offer her pureed vegetables too so that I don't lay awake at night worrying that she'll going to grow up to only eat Twinkies and pork rinds.