I Do Not Like Green Soup and Ham

It’s no secret that I make my own baby food. I’m no hippie, but I am proud of the all-natural, homemade quality of the food I put into my brand new baby. He’ll be eating lollipops full of sugar and chemicals all too soon, so I want to put good things in him now while I still can.

Last week I made peas. I bought the bag of dried split peas and boiled them for what felt like hours until they were mushy enough to puree in the mini food processor. I didn’t think ahead of time that one bag of wet peas makes a giant pot of mushy peas. What if he doesn’t like them? But true to form, Brady ate the peas with gusto, making that “mmmmm” sound the whole time.

Still, I had more than enough. So I decided to make pea soup for the rest of the family. Kyle eats soup at daycare all the time. I put diced turkey ham in too, one of Kyle’s favorites. When he got home, I gave some to him.

“It’s green soup!” he cried with delight.

“Yeah, let’s eat some!” I said.

“No.”

What? No? But I slaved over this for hours, kid, you’re gonna eat some.

“No!”

What mother has not faced this frustrating wall of denial? I bargained and cajoled. I did the airplane (so last year, mom) and the train and the space shuttle (1,2,3 blast off!) Nothing. He turned his head away with that rascally smirk.

Finally, when he asked for “circle cheese” – one of his favorite snacks, the BabyBel small version of a sealed Muenster cheese – I said he could have one if he tried the soup. He opened his mouth. I thought I had won.

Just as I got the spoon there he clamped his lips down on the very tip – just enough to taste but not actually take a whole spoonful.

“Eww.” he said. “Now circle cheese?”