The Saga of Broccoli

When Katelynn was 13 months old, my parents kept her while we were in Hawaii and offered her broccoli with her meal. She did not care for it and had a rather dramatic reaction. She was so distraught and offended by the vegetable that my parents had to put her in the crib to cry it out! Needless to say, my mom swore to never offer broccoli again.

Fast forward a few months. We were eating dinner at our house, and my mom happened to be in attendance. We were eating broccoli with our meal (my mom and I, that is - not Gene of course), and Katelynn was actually showing interest in it. My mom told her that "Elmo eats broccoli." I gave her a tiny piece of mine. To our shock, the broccoli was eaten with no weeping or gnashing of teeth.

Since then, KK has grown to love this green vitamin-packed veggie. Today I watched her eat all her broccoli before anything else. This has taught me that what you read in the parenting books is actually true - just keep offering foods over and over. Eventually, they might actually try it and like it!