We've been trying to convince Jess that food is really lekker, for about the past fifty-two years six months. Give or take a few days' strike in between to recoup. It has been a battle of epic proportions, folks.
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Never underestimate the power of an eleven-month-old. Or a five-month-old. Because that's about when we started trying to feed the iron-jawed monster. The girl has staying power, I'll give her that much.
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I just could NOT understand why she just REFUSED to eat. I mean - hello! Food! Show me a hillbilly who can say no to some good home-cooked chow and I'll show you a dinosaur egg.
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I know! Exactly.
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And then, about a month ago we were calmly sitting in the "parents with babies" isle at church (the seats nearest the escape door) so that if she gets a bit niggledy we can just pop out the back door without, disrupting the whole service. So, one of our friends' children (who shall remain anonymous, but for the sake of this post, let's call him Coenie) came and sat at the back with us. With that a handful of other kids followed him and we had a bit of a party at the back. Coenie's mom always packs him a "snack pack" for church which always includes either sliced biltong*, or dry wors*. That particular weekend it was dried wors. So, he shared with all the kids, handing each one about half a stick of dry wors. And he gave Robin a piece too. (Robin being a kid too, you know.) Jess was sitting on the floor with all of them. She looks at the dry wors, looks at Coenie, looks at each kid in the circle, notices that she's the ONLY one (besides her mom, but since when do moms count?) that doesn't have a stick of wors. No problem for her - she scoots over to Coenie's tupperware and helps herself to not one, but TWO sticks of wors!!! And so the little vegan became a carnivor in the space of one sermon! haha. Heretofore she had only ever experienced SOYA, nogal. Needless to say, she LOVES dry wors. So much so that we've had to buy her her own private stash!!! This week has seen her make HUGE progress in the eating department. It's still sporadic, with the occasional temper tantrum (Lord have mercy!) and hissy fit at the sight of a spoon, but we give her sliced apple, whole banana, marie bisuits, boiled egg, DRY WORS!, slices of cheese and pretty much anything that she can feed herself. If it comes on a spoon, not interested. If she can snatch it out of your hand, WINNER!
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Just the other day I was sitting on my father-in-law's lazyboy in their lounge with Jess on my lap. I absentmindedly opened a marshmallow easter egg and took a nibble of it. Next minute, boy oh boy, Jess snatched it RIGHT OUT OF MY HANDS and stuffed it into her mouth! Needless to say, I snatched it right back (because I'm grown-up that way!), ran into the kitchen, split a banana and pretended to be eating that. She quickly helped herself to "my" banana and appeared quite happy for the swap. hehe.
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My new nickname is Speedy Conzales.
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And so, the battle to feed the banana booger continues. I'm pleased to report, though, that as long as she can feed herself now, she will pretty much try it. Which I would call a victory. And as long as I don't need to keep eating Jess's leftovers, it might be a slim victory too!
*biltong = South African for something like beef jerkey, which can be made from almost any meat
*dry wors = dried out, raw, salty sausage. Also a South African favourite
1 comment:
So, she likes stuff with flavor? How about roasted chicken cut up? Or pasta with butter?
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