Eating like a big girl

Hattie recently turned 2 and seems like such a big girl in so many ways. Mealtime is one of the areas where I notice it most. We've spent a long time giving her tiny bites of food, mostly because she just didn't have any teeth for so long! But now she is holding large portions on her own, taking appropriate bites(most of the time) and in general pretty independent in feeding herself.

If we raise our pinkies, we look like ladies, regardless of how messy we are.

 She's also acting like a big 2 year old girl in her food preferences. She knows what she likes and doesn't like! She fakes me out when she started eating solid foods- avacado, asparagus, broccoli-you name it, she'd eat it. Now she's Miss Picky and rarely eats vegetables unless her Papa cooks them.

We go through a lot of bananas in one week.

 Luckily she signs a number of her favorite foods, so she can easily ask for them. She does know the sign for vegetable, but I don't think she's ever initiated using it...

A picnic at one of our favorite parks, just before the weather turned cold this week.

She's even drinking out of a big girl straw cup. She has a very cool stainless steel straw cup made by Thermos and its pretty fun watching her open the lid, take a few sips and return it to the table.

Of course, her favorite part of mealtime is the end-which she signals by throwing pieces of food over the edge of her booster seat for the dog, who waits patiently below. This is a ritual I am trying to put a stop to, but I am not hopeful.