Cheese sticks

We were parked in Julia and Dan's driveway. I was preparing to drive all the kids to gymnastics. Dan had already gotten Miriam's car seat in and put both his kids, (in their lovely leotards) in the minivan. I sent him back to the house for post-exercise food since last time the girls had temper tantrums after class and then gobbled their way through fruit leather, cereal bars, and cheese on the way home. He came back with two cheese sticks, and Rose announced she wanted to try a cheese stick too. So, he went and got one for her. (Poor Dan probably made four trips to the house before he sent us on our merry way).

On the way to the gym, Rose ruminated about the cheese stick. She was just going to try it. She was kind of scared of it. Miriam kept up a parallel conversation about her leotard. David stopped screaming and fell asleep, and Ariana was so quiet I was afraid she was asleep.

After class, with the melt downs held in abeyance by some chicanery (Rose got to open the door because Miriam got to open the door last time, but then Rose didn't notice that Mommom, who had joined us, let Miriam open the door too, and people wonder why parenting is so exhausting and all consuming), Rose tried her cheese stick. And liked it!
"It tastes like pizza cheese! It's my favorite. I don't like it; I love it!"

Personally, I don't like cheese sticks, but we have been trying to get Rose to eat them for years. They may be slightly lower quality cheese than the brand we usually buy, but they are easy to get, a staple in Mommom's and Julia's house, ready to eat in individually wrapped portions, and perfectly fine grow food.

As recently as last week, Rose rejected mozzarella that wasn't her usual brand. This was a big step.

Pomegranate juice

Hey, I just discovered this a few months ago. It's such a gorgeous ruby red color and has a matching complex flavor. It's also expensive, and I don't have it that often. John had gotten it for me (he went shopping while we were at gymnastics class), and Rose decided she was willing to try it. I dipped a chopstick in and let her lick it off that. And she redipped and redipped. Ok, she was probably just playing with her food, but she did say she liked it and swallowed several drops.

Pancakes with dried cranberries

I forgot about these until I read John's cooking journal. Pancakes and cranberries are staples of her diet, but she'd never tried them together. At first she said no, but then when I wanted one, she decided to try a bite of mine. Then she took mine. I suggested we try blueberry pancakes next.