Baby Food and Baby Faces

When Cinderella first started eating baby food, we gave her orange veggies.

You know, squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes.

I remember reading somewhere that starting babies on veggies before fruits is a good idea. Since fruits are sweeter, babies will be less likely to eat veggies after tasting fruits, or so the author's philosophy went.

Anyway, I bought it, and Cinderella loved her veggies.

She'd see me open that package of whatever orange vegetable was for dinner that night, and she would literally squirm with excitement.

Not that she didn't also love her fruits.

She just loved food in general, but especially her orange veggies.

So, priding myself that I did it correctly with the first baby (and the second baby would just naturally follow suit), I assumed that when I first started feeding Sleeping Beauty her orange veggies, she would bow down and thank me, her wonderful Mama, for the goodness that is orange veggies.

How wrong I was!

To Sleeping Beauty, squash is bearable; carrots do not sit well AT ALL; sweet potatoes are mildly palatable.

No excitement from Sleeping Beauty at all. Nothing!

And no thanks for me.

I've even tried to alternate bananas with an orange veggie; she's too smart for that trick. And though she thinks bananas are wonderful, no baby can live on bananas alone and not get backed up really quickly.

And a backed up baby is no fun for anyone in the house.

Since her iron levels are low, and she detests rice cereal, I finally caved in, tossed the orange veggies aside, and fed her pears mixed with rice cereal for dinner last night.

I had barely brought the spoon to her lips (not into her mouth or on her tongue, mind you; just to her lips) when Sleeping Beauty screwed up her face in disgust and looked at me with horror in her eyes.

"A white veggie?" she seemed to accuse. "You really think I'm going to eat this crap?"

I thought to myself, Yes, honey-babe; you are going to eat this crap wholesome goodness. (Baby food pears are good stuff!)

So, she plucked up her courage and deigned to open her mouth for me to actually place the pears and cereal on her tongue (like she really had any choice in the matter; I just decided to play along).

And surprise, surprise! She liked it! She actually liked it!

Duh, I thought; of course you liked it. It's pears; it's sweet; it's not an orange veggie.

Whatever works. As long as she eats her iron-fortified rice cereal, I'm happy.