Encyclopedia reading

Chloe was reading a Giant Animal Encyclopedia and read the following words unassisted:
Dromedary
Bactrian
Melanistic
Wolverine
Manatee
Then she said:
"Ooh, the next animal is an Okapi. I love Okapi!"

A biologist in the making? :)

Some of Chloes food

Somewhere around February I thought it would be interesting to take pictures of Chloes dinners.  I guess I thought it would help to look back at what she was eating and make sure she was getting a healty diet with plenty of variety.  I didnt take pictures of every dinner, because I forgot a lot of the time, as it goes.  But I thought I would put the pictures in here for the fun of it.  Maybe someday Chloe will find it interesting to know what she ate as a 6 year old.  She likes simple food with out a lot of sauces or seasonings.  She likes catsup and some salt here and there, but thats usually about it.  She rarely eats more than one ingredient at a time.  Even when we put sandwiches or salads together for her, she separates it all before eating it. Though she's been known to do a pretty good job with tacos.  I've always liked my food separated too, so I can't blame her too much.  I dont think I ever separated the things that were "supposed to" go together, though.  We try to challenge her regularly with things she only marginally likes, or sometimes we know she doesn't like at all.  If it's something she can get through without too much trouble, and its healthy - like fresh peppers - she usually needs to eat a small portion and try to find ways to get it into her body for health sake. That usually involves minimal chewing and getting it down with water. Most of these dinners, are ones we put together just for her, and we were eating something different, or at a different time.  In these cases, it's easy to set up her plate how she likes it.  There are other times where we make only one thing for dinner and we are trying to encourage her (sometimes insist) that she eat what we are eating.  These dinnertimes aren't as easy, but she's getting better.

We always drink water with dinner, occasionally we have some rice milk instead, as a treat. 

It's pretty cute to watch her learn about different diets, whats healthy and hear her learning how to make good choices.  Abby might say to her "Do you notice anything aobut this dinner?"  She'll look at it for a minute and comment on what kind of food she's got.  Maybe its got meat for protein, or it's vegetarian, maybe its vegan or it's all raw food.  She likes to sometimes save her favorite thing for last, and sometimes gobble it up first.  She is also getting good at knowing which breads and pastas are more healthy than others.  White bread, for example is a treat, while really hearty grain bread can be a great addition to a meal.  I truly hope she carries some of the habits we are teaching her with her forever.  I wouldnt even mind if she always preferred raw food to cooked and "saucy" food.  I always tell her it makes me happy all the way inside when I see her eating healthy food.  It's true.