Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Heather: Toddler Diet Story.
Regular readers know Maddie is the "opposite of lactose intolerant." She will tolerate water, but much prefers milk. She can look at her sippy and decide whether she really wants it or not, and has politely handed me back one with water and said, "Mik. Bees." [Translated: Milk, please.]
However, she did something last night that I think would cause lots of parents to rub their eyes in shock. We were having supper; I had some food on my plate set aside to serve to her. I gave her a sippy of milk to hold her over. She gently pushed the cup of dairy ambrosia out of the way and reached toward my plate, gripping her hand and saying rather urgently, "Bees! Bees!"
What did I have on my plate, you ask? Chocolate cake, possibly? Or macaroni and cheese? Some other concoction to vainly attempt to sneak something of nutritional value into a fussy toddler?
No, none of the above. Resting on my plate were two stalks of plain steamed broccoli. No salt, no cheese sauce, not even butter. And she was demanding one of them.
So I gave it to her, still a little hotter than I'd hoped. She took it gingerly and pushed it around on her tray for a minute or two, occasionally looking at me and saying, "Ot." [Hot.] When it had reached a more comfortable temperature, she picked it up and demolished it like it was ice cream. She even flipped it around and munched on the stalk itself, not just the floret part. She was "finished" with it when what was left was too small to fit her hand around, but even then she picked small clumps off her tray. She even took a bite more of mine later on.
I've thought about asking her doc if it's possible to eat too much vegetables, especially the green ones. Beans, peas, broccoli, green peppers, even lima beans... She picks them out and eats those first. Honest.
I don't think he'd believe me.
Regular readers know Maddie is the "opposite of lactose intolerant." She will tolerate water, but much prefers milk. She can look at her sippy and decide whether she really wants it or not, and has politely handed me back one with water and said, "Mik. Bees." [Translated: Milk, please.]
However, she did something last night that I think would cause lots of parents to rub their eyes in shock. We were having supper; I had some food on my plate set aside to serve to her. I gave her a sippy of milk to hold her over. She gently pushed the cup of dairy ambrosia out of the way and reached toward my plate, gripping her hand and saying rather urgently, "Bees! Bees!"
What did I have on my plate, you ask? Chocolate cake, possibly? Or macaroni and cheese? Some other concoction to vainly attempt to sneak something of nutritional value into a fussy toddler?
No, none of the above. Resting on my plate were two stalks of plain steamed broccoli. No salt, no cheese sauce, not even butter. And she was demanding one of them.
So I gave it to her, still a little hotter than I'd hoped. She took it gingerly and pushed it around on her tray for a minute or two, occasionally looking at me and saying, "Ot." [Hot.] When it had reached a more comfortable temperature, she picked it up and demolished it like it was ice cream. She even flipped it around and munched on the stalk itself, not just the floret part. She was "finished" with it when what was left was too small to fit her hand around, but even then she picked small clumps off her tray. She even took a bite more of mine later on.
I've thought about asking her doc if it's possible to eat too much vegetables, especially the green ones. Beans, peas, broccoli, green peppers, even lima beans... She picks them out and eats those first. Honest.
I don't think he'd believe me.
