What I Learned About How My Kid Eats

1. You don't have to buy baby food in jars, or in pouches, or in anything.  You can make your own.

2.  You don't even have to make your own.  Baby-led weaning is way easier and lazier.  Mush up a banana, avocado, or baked sweet potato if you want to give it a try.

3. If he likes something right now, he might not like it later.  Avocados, we had fun, maybe we'll see you again someday.  Ditto, sweet potatoes.

4. Some fast food places have actual child-friendly halfway healthy food.  Whataburger is not one of these places.  I don't even think the one we stopped at on our way back from the beach had milk.  We never really eat at these places, especially with the baby, so I had no idea how bad it was going to be.

5. The day you buy a five pound crate of oranges is the day your kid refuses to eat them.

6. Most kids need to try a food twenty or thirty times before they will decide they like it.

7. Getting food into his mouth, even if he spits it right out again, is a victory.

8. Someone else's snacks are always better than your snacks.  See also "someone else's toys."

9. If my kid won't eat anything, I take the exact same stuff to the park and he'll eat it with gusto.

10. Having a good eater is kind of like having a good sleeper.  They are rare and often exaggerated and if you have one of them, you probably feel like bragging ... even though you probably didn't have much to do with it yourself.