Dreams

When you’re a new parent I think it’s natural to dream about all the things you hope for your children and your expectations for them. We try to keep a lot of those to ourselves because we want her to do what she wants to do and to experience what’s important to her, not us. Overall, as long as she finds joy in life we’ll be thrilled. With that said, we hoped we’d have children who like to travel and who genuinely enjoy learning new things. Chris has dreams of perusing museums with the kids, and them actually liking it! I have dreams of showing them new landscapes and learning different customs and values and having them be truly enthralled and enlightened by their new surroundings. So far we’re off to a great start!

Ava has thoroughly enjoyed the museums we’ve introduced her to so far. She talks for days and days about something new she experiences. And most recently, and most exciting for me, is her love of new foods! I adore watching her develop a well-rounded palate. How many two year olds like onions and raw garlic? Ours does and I couldn’t be happier about it! If it sounds like I’m bragging, well, I am.

I think it’s terrific that she’ll continue to try something that she didn’t like the last time she tried it. For example, she’s never been a big egg eater (neither am I). We occasionally re-introduce them to her and she almost always turns them down after she tastes them. Over the weekend I made the traditional eggs, bacon, rolls and orange juice breakfast. She LOVED her eggs and devoured her bacon. She’s also a big fan of Mommy’s favorite – Big Yellow Pancakes (aka crepes).

Her honesty and frankness is also quite amusing when she tries food. In the past, she would taste her eggs then spit them out on her plate and say, “Mommy, my no like.” Over the weekend she took a taste of her eggs and enthusiastically declared, “It’s good!” Then she gobbled up everything on her plate.

The other day she sat with me during lunch and asked what I was eating. I had delectable leftovers from our dinner date the night before with Jeff & Rachel in Richmond. I asked her if she’d like to try a plantain. She excitedly nodded her head yes. After one bite she said, “It’s good! It’s different, Mama!” Anyone who knows me well enough knows how nutty I am about good plantains so it made my day to sit with my daughter and enjoy one of my favorites with her! Unfortunately, it means less for me… ;-)

Now, don’t misunderstand, she’s still a two-year old. She’ll never turn down chicken nuggets and french fries. She puts ketchup on everything – grapes, watermelon, pizza, etc. I’ve also been around long enough to know that most everything at this age is a stage or a phase and could easily pass with time. Regardless, she’s been this way for a while and I hope it lasts!

Just one more cute one from our mini-session over the weekend...