Food Favorites

Food has always been an interesting subject for you. Since you first started eating baby food you’ve always had a taste for the unexpected. For months you were a veggie only girl – peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes were your standard fare. You weren’t interested in fruits at all and completely despised bananas and applesauce which made you a very atypical baby in the eyes of everyone I shared this fact with.

As you’ve gotten older and eat table food you still lean more toward veggies than sweets, like carrots, corn and peas. You are a chocoholic like me; thanks to Michelle Harrell at church introducing you to the wonder of M&Ms, you beg for those anytime you see a familiar looking package. And like most children, you love ice cream. You went through a McDonald’s chicken nuggets phase for a while, though you’ve gotten away from that recently. I guess just like the rest of us, you got tired of the same-old-same-old. You love apples, and that’s one of your favorite words. If someone opens the fridge you immediately ask, “Apple?” no matter what time of day or night. You also love rice, just like your daddy. Whether it’s fried rice from the Japanese or Chinese restaurant, or dirty rice from Bojangles, you’ve never met a grain you didn’t like. Macaroni and cheese has become a staple – sometimes it’s the only form of protein I can get you to eat. Hot dogs? Forget it… Chicken? Only if Mommy hides it in some rice… Hamburger? You gag… You love bread most of time, and green beans when the mood suits you. You’ll eat your Grandma Bryan’s spaghetti (who wouldn’t?) but no one elses.

You won’t touch cow’s milk in any form (you even turn your nose up at chocolate milk!) so I still give you the stage-two formula at night and I mix it in with your rice and fruit cereal in the mornings. I always worry you don’t get enough protein or calcium. Hopefully you’ll grow out of this milk aversion eventually. Fortunately, you are usually willing to try most anything once. This has resulted in you acquiring a taste for a lot of strange things – dill pickles, sour cream and onion/BBQ potato chips, Doritos, ranch dressing, popcorn… I guess like everything else, Petra, you are unique.