Payback

My mom has always looked forward to me having kids.  Of course I'm sure she wanted to be a grandmother and play with cute little grandbabies, but I think the main reason was that she wanted me to experience the pain I allegedly put her though.  If you believe my parents (and I'm not saying that I do), then I apparently spent the first 2 years of my life crying constantly and never letting go of my mom - despite photographic evidence to the contrary.  Now, I have my doubts because that hellion that they describe certainly doesn't sound like me.  But, they remain vigilant in their story & have even gone so far as to get some close family friends in on the ruse!  ;) 

Although Olivia did not cry constantly, unfortunately I think she has picked up one of my self-admitted bad habits...picky eater.  Now, I'm not alone in this quality - my darling husband survived on a diet of chicken tenders, pizza and Dr. Pepper before we started dating.  But, as expanded as our pallets have become over the past few years, vegetables are still a hard sell.  And I guess the picky eating quality is genetic because Olivia has become quite opinionated and hard to please at meal time.

On Thursday when I picked her up from school her teachers told me to find something she likes to eat this weekend and not bring any more babyfood on Monday because she just spits it out or refuses to even open her mouth! 

So this weekend we went on a baby culinary experiment to find foods that Olivia likes.  Here are the results:

Baked apples with cinnamon - that's a no.  She will put the apple in her mouth, lick the cinnamon off and spit it out.  But no consumption of the apple actually took place.

Broccoli with cheese sauce - her teachers claimed she liked this but I think its a no too.  She took the bite that I gave her, ate the cheese and spit out the broccoli.

Cauliflower gratin:  That's right - gratin.  What 9 month old needs "gratin" is beyond me, but we seem to have a winner.  I put some brown rice in the bottom of a ramekin and then layered a cauliflower puree (with parmesan) on top; sprinkled it with some more parmesan and baked it for about 20 minutes.  She loved it, as long as there was some cauliflower/parmesan in every bite.  

Butternut squash soup with chicken - as long as this is a very "soupy" consistency with no chucks, she will also eat this.

Grilled chicken - this was a winner too

So, we have a few items she will eat and I'm now on a mission to find some more! 

And a random picture of my cute little picky-pants at the park with daddy.