If you've read The Very Hungry Caterpillar lately (and, chances are, if you are someone who reads this blog, then you are also someone who has The Very Hungry Caterpillar memorized...), then you know the rundown:
On Monday he ate throuh one apple.
On Tuesday he ate through two pears.
On Wednesday he ate through three plums.
On Thursday he ate through four strawberries.
On Friday he ate through five oranges.
On Saturday he ate through one piece of chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone, one pickle, one slice of swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of watermelon.
Cora's cuddle grams from daycare read much like the caterpillar's Saturday.
For example, I saved her cards from this week...
On Monday, Cora ate a waffle, a Yo-Baby yogurt, cheese, ham, fruit cocktail, grapes (from home), applesauce, and a vanilla wafer.
On Tuesday, Cora had milk, mashed potatoes, veggies, meatballs, graham crackers, yogurt, and a vanilla wafer.
On Wednesday, Cora had a corn dog, broccolli, banana pudding, milk, ritz, fruit, banana, cheese, and a hot dog.
On Thursday, Cora had cheese, grapes, milk, a tuna cake, some asparagus, yogurt, and grapes.
On Friday, Cora had a slice of pizza, grapes, applesauce, green beans, sandwich slices, a vanilla wafer, and some cheese.
This doesn't include the breakfast we feed her, and then the dinner that she eats at home. We have our very own hungry caterpillar.
Here, our caterpillar is eating asparagus & tuna-corn cakes.
I uploaded some pics from my phone today, and wasn't surprised to see that so many of these involved Cora eating. I'm telling you - she LOVES to eat. She starts to get fussy in the 20 minutes before it is time for her to eat (often pushing my legs away from the cabinets as I am trying to make dinner), and she either runs straight for her high chair when we mention that it is time to eat or she immediately reaches to be picked-up (she seems to know all of the words for eating: "Let's go get some dinner", "It's time for breakfast", "Let's have a banana"). On Saturday, she and I went grocery shopping. When we got home, I was unloading the groceries and Cora was running around our house with one of her baby spoons (I'm not sure why). She went to one of the bags, pulled out a 4-pack of YoBaby Yogurt, sat down and began working one of the yogurts free, and then started trying to shove her spoon through the plastic seal. I guess she wanted some yogurt? (she immediately was rewarded with a YoBaby, of course).
I think that these are Kix - that was a little phase this summer. I'm not sure how good they are for her, but the old commercials worked on me. I remember standing in the grocery store debating whether I could substitute Kix for her Baby Puffs (kind of like cheerios for babies, in case you haven't heard of Puffs), and I thought, "They can't be
that unhealthy. Kid tested, mother approved").
Rice? I'm not sure what this was. She looks so little here!
Mixed veggies - always a huge hit with Cora.
OK, I have no clue what she was eating here...
I am also not sure what this is...
Spaghetti, maybe with a little ham and cheese mixed in as an appetizer?
Noodles. I think that we were having noodles with pesto this evening.
Potatoes, corn, and roast, I believe. An attempt to use the spoon (Landon and I have been a little hot and cold with reinforcing utensils).
Loving some Saturday morning blackberries.
And, loving some Sunday afternoon pineapple.
Cora has a reputation at daycare. Anytime someone new comes along to take care of the kids, or if one of the other teachers fills-in in Cora's room, one of the first things that they say to me at the end of the day is, "Wow! Cora really likes to eat!" Today, I was chatting with Miss Linda, who prepares the food for Miss Aimee's. She mentioned that she sometimes has to sit and coax other kids to eat, but not Cora, "She loves everything!" Recently, another mom in the baby room (the room that Cora used to be in) asked one of the teachers about introducing food. The teacher said that her response was, "Talk to Cora's mom and do whatever she did. Cora eats everything".
Everything? Not quiet. Of the list of items for the hungry caterpillar's Saturday, Cora is not a huge fan of pickles and as far as I know she has never had cherry pie. Otherwise, everything else on the list is something that she has at least tried, mostly likes (she loves salami and sausage!), and would try again, if we let her (the lollipop was daddy's controversial idea on Halloween). She usually doesn't like bland meats (like plain chicken or turkey), but stick it in a casserole or add a tomato sauce to it (like with meatballs), she'll eat it. She goes for almost every veggie (even beets, which we don't eat, but her Aunt Heather does), and the only fruit I've ever seen her turn down are oranges.
All of that said, we may have started a bad eating trend today. For the first time, in the history of our relationship as far as either of us can remember...
Landon and I...
And Cora...
(Not on a roadtrip)...
Ate fastfood.
Taco Bell, to be precise, for dinner. Landon's pregnant craving, not mine. He specifically woke today with Taco Bell on his mind.
We NEVER eat fast food. Even when on road trips, Landon and I are more likely to stop at a Cracker Barrell or a Ruby Tuesday or a Chinese buffet instead of having fast food, and when we do have fast food when traveling, it is almost always fast food of a healthy variety (e.g., Subway or Arby's or KFC where Cora can get some veggies, or Wendy's where I have a salad followed by a Frosty, of course). I admit we do have an obsession with Dairy Queen (plain cup of vanilla for me, Oreo Blizzard with extra Oreo for Landon) when traveling. But, I can honestly count on one hand the number of times that Landon and I without any guests have ordered take-out pizza for dinner. In fact, our trip to Taco Bell was monumental today because in the history of our relationship, even when we were dating, except for the occassional road trip, neither Landon or I have any other recollection of walking into a fast food establishment for a meal. And, I would estimate that our ratio of choosing a local restaurant to a chain restaurant is 10:1.
The food was not very good, and I am happily returning to my life as a fast food and chain restaurant snob. The next time he says he has a Taco Bell craving, I'm insisting that we drive straight to our Mexican favorite, La Hacienda!
