I have always hoped that our kids would have adventuresome palates. With my love of food, variety and spice, the thought of a picky eater who would refuse anything but chicken fingers seemed rather dreadful.

When Alice was 5 1/2 months, we started her on solids. I had no idea how she was going to respond, and tentatively approached her with some carrots I had steamed and pureed that afternoon.

She took to it like butter to a muffin.

Within weeks, she was eating about 14 oz of solids per day (!), and devouring anything I offered–carrots, peas, squash, sweet potatoes, chicken, lentils, spinach with garlic, Greek yogurt, Chicken Tikka, pureed coq au vin, tuna salad, chicken salad, any kind of fruit . . . everything except for avocado.

She even went gangbusters on a lemon.

And in the first 3 weeks of starting solids, she gained 2 pounds.

Whoa.

I’m guessing by now she’s put on another pound or two, which is surely helping her in her mission to move all over the face of the earth, scooch by scooch, and put everything she can find into her mouth. Go Alice go!

But back to the food part! To this day, before her little mouth even makes contact with the spoon, she makes the most hilarious faces of skepticism.

I think she’s anticipating, unsure of what her taste buds are about to experience. But she’s game to try whatever’s there, so in goes the food . . .

. . . and the little face goes through a series of expressions that might seem like disgust to an untrained eye.

She makes dramatic grimaces and looks at me with a face of great uncertainty. What are you feeding me??

But after about bite #4, some kind of switch turns and she becomes RavenousBaby, leaning forward towards the spoon and smacking her little hand on her thigh or the table. More! More! More!

Picky stages will most certainly come and go throughout her babyhood and childhood, but at this moment I am so thankful that she’s game for whatever I put in that little plastic bowl.

She’s my favorite baby. She’s just tops. And she’s MINE!