Finger food

One thing that's funny about having twins is that you always have a built in comparison group. Sometimes that's fun, sometimes it can cause anxiety. But it's kind of cool just observing the differences. It definitely reinforces for me how much of who we are is inborn. Each of the girls was so different from the very beginning, I feel like it's very obvious that the job of a parent is to spend time learning who they are, and helping them learn it, rather than make them someone you envision.

Eating is an area where already they have clear tendencies to be different. When I first offered them solid foods, at 7.5 months, Rowan wasn't ready yet. Saoirse loved it, from day one. But Rowan turned her head away for about 2 weeks, refusing to try much of anything. Finally one day, Ashley (our babysitter) tried sweet potatoes and making the spoon an airplane...and Rowan was off and eating. Still, though, she's much fussier than Saoirse about food. Saoirse refuses only a few things...green things. Broccoli and cheddar, peas (at first completely, now on and off), green beans, avocado (at first, now she likes it). I haven't even tried spinach, or anything strong like that. But Rowan turns down lots of things...and it's inconsistent. One day she loves carrots, then she hates them. Usually yogurt with fruit is a sure thing, today she even turned that down. And lately she really wants to touch her food and try to eat it herself. Cheerios...fine. Yogurt...not so good. She can't use a spoon accurately, so it's just a way to make a mess.

As much as I thought before solid feeding about the kinds of things I wanted the kids to get from me about food (healthy foods, no eating disordered kind of emotiona hangups..), it's hard when they're actually there. It's easy to get caught up in getting them to eat what you made, for instance. Or get stressed because they seem to want to eat only fruit and Cheerios...well, who can blame them, really? I'm really working on remembering this sentence from a book I read a while ago. "It's your responsibility to provide healthy food for them to choose from, it's their responsibility to choose what and how much to eat."



Umm...Rowan, you've got a little something on your face...