Eating and Eating and Eating

Patrick measured Ava this afternoon against the living room door frame - she's grown 1/4" in 22 days! Her appetite is enormous so far in 2010 - two or three breakfasts, a snack, another lunch or two, more snacks, "oh boy, it's suppertime" with two or three servings, and then another snack or two before bed.

We were at Hannaford the other day, in the produce section, and she spotted a container of raspberries that somebody had placed in with the apples - you would have thought she had discovered gold! "Gammer, RASPBERRIES! And it's the LAST BOX!" We got a few smiles from nearby shoppers, and one lady murmered "I wish I got that excited about fruit..." We put the raspberries in our cart, and Ava had them almost gone by the time we checked out.

On another day, again in the produce section, she decided she wanted a couple of green beans, so I let her take two from the display case, and she munched on them as we shopped. We had gotten to the other end of the store when she asked if she could have more, so this time we put 7 or 8 beans in a produce bag, and paid 16 cents for them. She ate them on the ride home, and as we went over the bridge in Lisbon Falls, she started crying because she only had two left. She wanted to go back to Hannaford and get more! In a flash of brilliance I said, "Ava, just break them in half, and then you'll have four beans..." That did the trick, and she was happy as a clam.

She loves to eat good food - organic strawberry yogurt in a squeeze package, berries, vegetables, fruit, etc. A favorite snack is a little bowl of frozen peas. She asks for carrots and apples instead of cookies. Her Halloween candy is still in the bucket - she has no interest in it. Not to say she doesn't have a sweet tooth, because occasionally she does, but she really prefers something made by Mother Nature.

Tonight Patrick cooked a pork tenderloin, with rice pilaf and green beans. That girl ate four servings of meat, all of her green beans, and two big scoops of rice. We looked on in admiration!

For breakfast, she likes to make her own scrambled eggs. This morning she had two eggs, and half of Gaffer's onion bagel and cream cheese. She also likes cereal (Froot Loops is a favorite, and Rice Krispies, and Frosted Flakes) and oatmeal and pancakes and toast.

She went through a "soup phase", where she was eating Chicken Noodle (or Stars) soup two or three times a day, but that seems to be past now - she hasn't asked for soup in a while. She likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and tuna sandwiches, and bologna, and chicken nuggets for lunch.

She's great about trying things - will always agree to taste something, and usually tells us she likes it, even though she may not want any more of whatever it is. Last night we had tacos, and she tried the salsa, the guacamole, and the sour cream! She was helping Gaffer cook the taco meat (ground moose) with her apron on, when Gaffer discovered we had no cheddar for the tacos. When I said I'd run down to the store to get some, Ava wanted to come with me, but didn't want to take off her apron - wanted everyone at DV to know she was cooking!