My daughter is an eater. Last night we went out to eat for my husband's birthday with his sister and brother-in-law. We went to one of the nicer steak places in town (the kind that requires reservations and where you can barely squeeze in a dinner for 2 digits) , and bravely took our 18-month-old along. She was really well behaved (thank goodness!), and I'm afraid that she quite enjoyed her fine dining experience...
To start, the restaurant is NOT known for it's bread--they provided a basket of individually wrapped crunchy "breadsticks". Luckily these bear a strong resemblance to Charlie's favorite pretzel sticks, so she was thrilled with the offering. Then the salads arrived. She had her own plate with two chunks of tomato, some fresh spinach, and a handfull of dried strawberries (like raisins only yummier)--all scavenged from the adult's salads. She dug right in, and only turned her nose up at a small bite of bleu cheese that I offered her. Then the meat arrived.
I had ordered a 16-oz New York strip and my husband the prime rib--the restaurant's signature dish. His prime rib was about the size of a chuck roast. This thing would have easily fed all five of us at the table, with leftovers (there was actually a *larger* portion on the menu....). I'm really not exaggerating here--it was a piece of meat that was plate-sized, and at least 2 inches thick. As soon as Merl's plate was put in front of him, Charlotte's eyes widened and she let out a triumphant "Ha-ha-ha" and tried to help herself to a bite. With her spoon. We couldn't cut bites fast enough of the steak and prime rib for her. She was also offered green beans and twice-baked potatoes, but really just wanted the meat. She easily ate 4 ounces all by herself. Did I mention that she is barely 20 pounds, and hovers around the 10th percentile for weight? Not for lack of trying...
Really, we're quite lucky with her. She's always been a good eater. She switched from baby food to table food at 9 months because she seemed to prefer our dinner to her own pureed one. We once tried to order her a chicken finger kids meal at Outback, and she wouldn't touch it--she wanted our steak. She also had no teeth until she was 14 months, but the kid could gum anything (including that Outback Special..). Her current favorite foods include green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, steak, fruit of any kind, and yogurt. This morning she actually threw a tantrum because I wouldn't make her oatmeal for a snack before daycare (she gets breakfast as soon as she gets there).
A couple of our friends with younger babies have occaisionally asked how much to feed them, or for suggestions as to what to try, or have stated that they didn't think their kids liked much table food. The only thing that I can tell them is to eat well in front of their kids, to offer the babies the same thing that the adults are eating, and to let them make a mess with the food (practice makes perfect even if it seems like most of their dinner hits the floor, walls and hair). Except for foods that babies are not supposed to try, Charlotte has had bites of just about everything that we eat--from lettuce to spicy chinese food to chili (she loves chili). I think the only thing left that we regularly eat that we haven't let her try is peanuts, and that one's getting harder and harder to withhold, especially since she's accidentally had both walnuts and almonds and has had no issues with either.
I do worry that if she eats this much at 18 months, that we're going to have to sell our kidneys to feed her when she's a teenager...
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