Rose added four new foods to her repertoire today. Hurrah! Some were variations on a theme, but four might be an order of magnitude jump for this gal.

Perky-O’s—the gluten-free answer to Cheerios. Rose, David, and I were visiting Rose’s grandparents and they recently had a gluten-free house guest, so we got to try out the leftovers. Rose had had Perky-O’s and roundly rejected them, so I was pretty excited to see her willing to try again and like them enough to have them in a bowl with milk.

white cheddar—I know some of you may be thinking, “Cheddar? Isn’t that one of Rose’s staples? What’s the big deal?” Oh no, my friends. Tillamuck brand medium cheddar (or as Rose calls it “orange cheese”) compliments cheesy bread sticks, cheesy rice, and cheese and crackers. Having a different brand, different color, and a sharper flavor definitely counts as a new food.

ginger snaps—I don’t like gingersnaps, and Rose didn’t like them the one time I offered before, so it hadn’t occurred to me to revisit them. (Yes, I see a lesson here.) She ate two.

salami—Now, I want all my beloved vegetarian, kosher, and kosher vegetarian readers out there to take a deep breath. No, it’s not for everyone, but John and I adore salami. Hopefully, the type we buy, fresh sliced at our favorite grocery store has no bad additives and is made out animals that were happy and carefree before they were, um, made into salami. Rose was out shopping with John, and the deli person offered her a slice. Salami is spicy, tangy, chewy, greasy—nothing like any other food she eats. She had it for dinner, lunch, and wants me to make it her regular school sandwich.

What should we offer her next?