Foodie Kids-Guest Post

My toddler is a Foodie.

She's barely two, and has definite opinions on her meals. Not the typical toddler fits of "I want NUGGETS!" or "NO VEGGIES!" but "Dis needs mo' pepper" or "Can I have some okkly pweese?"

Okkly

 Every morning, we have eggies. In hers, I add sea salt, fresh cracked pepper and a little Crystal hot sauce. If I leave out any of these steps, the eggs are "ucky" and she won't eat them.

 My son is seven and has the typical kid palate. Hot dogs, spaghetti, chicken nuggets, pizza. With him, I did the typical breast milk, baby food, bland food progression that most people do. With my daughter, I was a little older (there's 5 years between them) and had been "crunchified" and used a midwife for her birth. The midwife introduced me to a somewhat new and definitely "crunchy" method called Baby Led Weaning. There's a lot to it, but basically, you skip baby food entirely, and when baby is 8 or 9 months old, go straight to table food. Little bits of cheese and potato and soft cooked carrots, cut into bite sized pieces. Researching more about this, I read that in India, mamas just plop whatever curry they're having for supper on baby's plate - they don't adjust the spices or anything. Other countries are similar. So when I would cook her little bits of whatever, I would season it up like I was going to eat it. I often just gave her bits of dinner, cut up smaller.

I'll never know if the difference in their palates is just personality, or because of the way I fed them, but I'm so glad that my girl is a foodie like her mama! I love taking her out to eat and trying new things with her. Like most kids, she's never met a noodle she didn't like - but it's not just mac n cheese. Pad Thai, penne arrabiata, fideo - she loves them all.

Silliness at the Pad Thai place

I hear from other mamas "Enjoy it now, it'll change!" and if it does, that's fine. I hope it doesn't though. She's not a garbage disposal kid - she has definite likes and dislikes. She hates asparagus, for example. She loves pecans and almonds, but hates walnuts. Honestly, she eats things that I won't. I hate mushrooms but she loves them. We have a deal - I've stopped ordering my dishes without mushrooms. I get them as-is and then pick out the mushrooms for her.

Her baby sister is 10 months old now and I'm using the same approach with food. I hope she develops the same wild eating habits as her big sister. It'll be fun to have foodie girls nights when they get bigger. If it's a phase, I hope it's a long one, and I'm enjoying every minute of it!

Foodie Girl is the one with the spoon. Obviously.

 



Evin is a mom of three, living in the country surrounded by cows, chickens and bugs. She'll eat anything once, and thinks mushrooms taste like human flesh. She thinks she's pretty funny and writes at http://www.foodgoodlaundrybad.com.