Food, Glorious Food
As Giggles and Cuddles turned six months I was super excited about introducing them to one of life’s greatest pleasures: food. I should have guessed though that this did not really include carrot and zucchini purees. I was ready with the spoon in one hand and the camera in the other to record that magical moment when they tasted food for the first time. The pictures of two disgusted faces are simply priceless! Giggles refused to let the spoon in fighting it with all her might and she continued to do that for a couple of weeks. Cuddles thankfully improved considerably with each passing day.
I would really like my daughters to grow up as healthy eaters. I believe healthy eating habits really have an impact on one’s quality of life and that children who eat a varied, balanced diet grow up with a stronger immune system and a healthier wellbeing in general. That’s why I was really determined that Giggles and Cuddles eat their vegetables, so I stuck to those purees every day and decided to delay the introduction of fruits lest they really like the sweet taste and refuse the vegetables. If one of them didn’t like what she was given and refused to eat, she didn’t get anything else during that mealtime. It sounds cruel, I know, but some studies show that although there is a genetic element to our taste preferences, a lot of our likes as grown-ups are acquired tastes, so parents can to some extent influence the taste preferences of their growing children.
To encourage the girls to like their vegetables, I followed creative recipes from baby food books and internet sites so that they didn’t get bored but seriously how exciting can it get with steaming vegetables and mixing them together? A friend of mine used to look at the girls’ food whenever we went out and ask, “Are those poor girls are having that green soup again?” I would try to explain that it was a different one but the fact that Giggles took more than an hour to eat before deciding that she had had enough didn’t help. She had this funny way of completely ignoring me and avoiding eye contact when she didn’t want any more food. Babies think that when they don’t see you that you also don’t see them, so in her mind if she didn’t look at me then I couldn’t see her and therefore wouldn’t bug her with that spoon again. On good days I would laugh out loud when she would start acting like she was invisible, but there were some challenging days when feeding both girls took almost an hour and a half and left me really drained.
A couple of months later I decided it was time to introduce them to the world of fruits. I was with a friend on the phone telling her that the girls were about to have apple puree for the first time and she said, “With apples you really can’t go wrong. I have yet to meet a baby who doesn’t like apples”. Well, Giggles and Cuddles were those babies! I thought I really overdid it with those vegetables so that they ended up not liking fruits! It got a bit better with bananas and pears and eventually apples mixed with other fruits, but I still ended up with hilarious pictures of two babies reacting to their first taste of apples as if I was feeding them chili peppers.
As they approached their first birthday I started giving them a taste of banana muffins or fruitcakes. And that’s when we discovered Giggle’s passion for sweets. I had never seen her eyes sparkle and her mouth open so wide to the approaching spoon like I did the first time she had banana muffins. She really gets high on sweets. After having a few spoons she would just start giggling for no reason at all. Cuddles isn’t as passionate about sweets. She still likes her vegetables so there’s a bit of hope that at least one of my daughters will be a healthy eater although I’m told they change all the time.
The girls now eat toddler meals and life has gotten so much easier. They still go through phases (which I always like to blame on teething rather than my cooking) where they don’t eat very well, but I’ve become a lot more relaxed and know that it’s a phase that will pass. A few months ago I would panic when one of them didn’t finish her lunch, worrying about how she will stop growing or will end up with poor health. In general, they eat a lot better and seem to actually like a lot of the food I cook for them. They like their vegetables and eat most of the fruits I give them. Soon enough though, they will discover that there is a world beyond fruits and vegetables that includes yummy things like sausages and pizza and chocolate. Oh how I dread that day! But I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
By Didi in Zurich
Didi is an Egyptian mother of twin girls living in Zurich. Before having the twins she worked in the field of Economic Development. She is currently a stay-at-home mom focused on the growth and development of her daughters.
Illustration by Laura Munteanu
Laura has studied Journalism and Advertising, and has worked as a journalist and an illustrator. She has illustrated for magazines, websites, charity and various campaigns. Laura lives in Zurich with her husband and 5 year old daughter.
