Monday, October 17, 2011

It's All In a Self-Assigned Name

It won't come as a huge surprise that the variety of vegetables that Ava will eat is small. She'll eat canned peas, but not frozen. She'll eat raw carrots with ranch, but not cooked carrots. She'll eat sweet potato fries, but not mashed sweet potatoes. And regular fries of course. And that's about it. No corn, no green beans, no tomatoes, no broccoli or cauliflower.

I finally resorted to subterfuge. I went back to making baby food essentially. (I still love my Baby Cook.) I steam and purée vegetables like butternut squash and carrot in batches. I freeze the purée in ice cube trays. Then I defrost and mix the cubes into her food whenever it wouldn't be noticed. I can get two cubes into her morning yogurt, for instance.

A couple of days ago I was making a batch of sweet potato. I had steamed and puréed it and was in the process of spooning it into ice cube trays when Ava came by to check out the action. She observed in silence for a few moments and then demanded, "I want some icing!"

I thought for a moment about correcting her assumption that the puréed sweet potato was icing, but that just seemed a waste of a golden opportunity. Instead I said, "Well, you can have one taste." Then I let her try a taste from the tip of my finger.

She made a face and I thought that would be the end of it, but a moment later she piped up with, "Mama, can I have a bowl of icing?". You can bet that I scooped sweet potato right back out of the ice cube trays and put it in a bowl for her. She then proceeded to eat three small bowls (about 4 ice cubes) worth of sweet potato. I guess sometimes it really is all in the name.

(It probably helped that she was starving because she didn't like anything I served for dinner that night.)

2 comments:

  1. Not sure if you've tried this yet but my little one with similar issues will eat the squeeze pouch baby food containers. I only buy the ones that have sweet potatoe or squash or some vit. a veggie mixed in. He thinks they are a treat and would never eat the actual vegetable. I also make sure to use them on the go or in the car when I can only offer 2
    choices instead of a kitchen worth of food. Sarah

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  2. Sarah -

    No, I haven't tried those. Are they just in the same section as the baby food? (I guess I could just look the next time I'm at the store.)

    I'll try it. Anything that might work is worth trying at least once. Thanks for the idea. And good tip about when to offer it as well.

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