Carrots

Today's lunch menu looked fairly sparse and I elected to "dress up" my ramen with some frozen peas, corn, and carrots.
We've been feeding Lizzy bits of our meals for a while now, discovering that she loves olives, yellow peppers from Subway sandwiches, yogurt, spaghetti, and assorted other odds and ends. She does not like potatoes and can detect them hidden in any form or fashion. She has limited tolerance for applesauce.

So settling down to my veggie-enhanced lunch with Lizzy in her highchair at my elbow, I gave her some veggies. Now, Lizzy is a human child, with the same basic genetic makeup of all the other 11-month-old babies that have grown up to be parents. When faced with her very first ever boiled carrot slice, her basic instincts kicked in: She distracted me with a charming smile and pointed to the ceiling, and dropped the carrot over the side of her tray.

Like the billions of mothers before me, without skipping a beat, I grabbed another carrot and stuck it into her mouth, telling her that it was good for her and calling it "yummy". It turns out she does like them well enough. She put the next carrot in her mouth on her own, after pushing it around her tray a little bit. Then she smiled at me with a look that very clearly said, "OK, I ate my carrots. What's for dessert?"