The Food Network

Yes, we've started it.  The network of eating.  And I am already ready to throw in the spoon.  It's been .75 hours.

You see, I am not a big food-lover myself.  My picky eating habits have caused problems in the past.  You know, the kind where your mom says, "If you don't like what's for dinner, have a sandwich."  I won't eat peanut butter sandwiches anymore.  "If you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you're not hungry."  And so I don't eat.  Simple.  And when I say, don't eat, I mean, don't eat.  I don't keep any junk food camoflouged as snacks in the house and so more often then not, an apple is all there really truly is to eat.  So I don't eat until dinner, when I have the patience to make something fabulous because I know Steve will be eating it, as well, and dinners together around the table are important.

Now, that being said, I think I have made quite the problem for Alaska.  My friend's baby (not that I am comparing babies, but you know, it's good for mommas to know what other babies are doing and when) was drinking out of a cup, or at least wanting to, at 6 months 'cause her momma drank lots of water during the day.  Alaska?  Nope, no interest.  No interest in drinks or  food.  Sure, she'll reach out and grab something off your plate, just to see how it feels, but it's nothing that she cries about if you take it away.

Poor Alaska never sees her momma drink water, I hate the stuff... unless it comes from a drinking fountain.  But we obviously don't have one of those.  And she doesn't see me eat, because, well, I just don't.  The only time she is around food is when Steven and I are eating at the table and she is playing in her saucer so that we can act like grown-ups.

Yesterday we tried the sippy cup deal.  It actually worked pretty well.  Alaska got her little hands around the two handles and could hold it on her own, even if I had to tip it up for her to get any reward out of it.

Today we tried the bowl and spoon with cereal.  No go.  She let me put one spoonful in, tasted it, spit a little out and clamped her mouth down shut for the rest of the 15 minutes I had her pinned.  I popped some popcorn for my dinner and chewed off any choking parts and gave her a few pieces.  She was fascinated at trying to pick them up and get them to her mouth, but in the end, anything that did get into her mouth was promptly spit out with a waterfall of slobber.  This game lasted about half a hour.  I don't even know if she understands food can come from somewhere else than a bottle.

And that's as far as we got.  I'll keep trying, but for the record, I would be willing to wait until she can make her own peanut butter sandwhich.