Tales of a picky eater

A couple of months ago my previously adventurous daughter suddenly started hating pretty much everything I tried to feed her. Oh sure, she would eat fishie crackers and raisins, but we were seriously lacking in a lot of very important food groups. We're still working on it, but here are a few of my successes...

1. Edamame.
She loves the stuff! I already knew she liked it, but the only kind I could find at Safeway was a huge package of shelled edamame that went bad before she ate even a quarter of it. It felt like a huge waste of money to me, so I only bought it that one time. But, lo and behold, Trader Joe's sells frozen shelled edamame! I can prepare a small amount at a time, and it's perfect! Definite success.

2. The Dip
Everything's more fun to eat when you can dip it, right? Using yogurt, peanut butter, or hummus as dip, and carrots, apples, and pretzels as the object to be dipped = actual eating! (It also keeps her really busy, which means I have relative peace during mealtime...always a plus)

3. Presentation
How I serve food seems to make a big difference. Most anything with a straw will at least get a few bites (yogurt, in particular). She's terrible at utensils, but loves attempting to eat with a fork. If I get a piece of meat onto a fork for her and let her feed it to herself, she will sometimes swallow! (meat/protein is one of our greatest battles)

4. Smoothies
Whole-milk yogurt, fruit, ice, sometimes carrots, and yes, a little bit of sugar and she's in heaven! I don't always take the time to make them, but smoothies, eaten through a straw of course, are another success.

5. Adult cereal
This one really surprised me. I had been trying different dry cereals out on Livia after she got tired of cheerios. She liked kiddy cereals, but she LOVED muesli! She eats the raisins and dates first of course, but then she systematically goes through and eats all the grains and nuts, too. Who'd have thought? It seems like most kids like oatmeal, but Livia despises it. I can't blame her. I've never liked it either.

So there has been some major progress made, but most of her meals still end up on the floor or stuffed down into her high chair. If any of you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! I know a lot of toddlers go through a picky phase, and so I'm rather desperately hoping she'll grow out of it.

Dandelions

Livia discovered dandelions at the park this week.

While we were there a pre-teen girl approached me and said, "Aww, how old is it?"

It? Really?

I could be wrong, but Livia looks quite feminine to me. Particularly with the ponytail and pink shirt with little hearts all over it. I dunno.

And it just felt weird to have someone call her an it. I'd almost rather have had her say, "Aww, how old is he?" (!!)

(Fairly) recent happenings

In other words, things I kept meaning to write about but somehow never did, so now it's all going to be thrown together in one big post. 1. We went camping...a month ago...with our friends the Mayfields.

We camped at Mt. Diablo, and had a great view of the sunset from our campsite.

We hiked to the top, and Chase was a trooper to carry Livia the whole way up.

Two things: 1) DO NOT laugh at me! I know the backpack is almost as big as I am!

2) I'm diggin' Chase's capris.

Yay for friends who put up with our crying baby at night! One tent + two different bedtimes = TROUBLE!!! (Livia woke up when we finally crawled in the tent, and didn't go back to bed until 1:30 a.m. when Chase got the brilliant idea to stick her in her carseat in the car. He didn't even have to drive around. She fell right to sleep. )

2. Livia is growing up so fast!!

This month she learned how to color. We now have drawings up on the fridge. I swear I'm too young for that.

She's starting the I-want-to-dress-myself phase. In this photo she's sporting a long-sleeved onesie over a summery dress.

Her hair is now long enough that I have to do it everyday. It's not quite long enough to look good, but we try. Chase calls this the "bug look"

We're still working on feeding ourselves with a spoon...I don't think I need to say anything more about that.

Livia fell and got her first scraped knee! She didn't cry once, not even when I peeled off the band-aid later. Pretty sure she did NOT get that from me. Ü

She's also demonstrating her "smile for the camera" smile.

Livia will be going into nursery in a month, can you believe it?! She's growing up so fast and is asserting her independence more and more. She LOVES having friends over, playing hide-and-seek, ring around the rosie, getting piggyback rides, reading, and going on walks. She's starting to talk more, but I can't decipher everything. She says something that sounds suspiciously like "money" everytime she wants something. Should I be worried???

3. Chase has been working crazy hours for the past few weeks, but things should be calmer now. Hooray!

4. I started taking a ballet class! Even after just one class a lot of what I learned in past years is coming back to me. I think I'm gonna love this!