the mother grape says What?!

Roo has always been difficult to feed. Always. Things are simpler now, as long as she likes what is in front of her. Much like any finicky preschooler, I imagine.

Convincing her to try things set before her is somewhat challenging.

Over the last while, we've adopted and abandoned many strategies. Some work for a bit and then grow trite. Right now, the two things that get a strange bite in Roo's mouth are the promise of a 'Bravo!' or the lure of a 'getting down bite'.

Roo gets a standing ovation complete with screams of 'BRAVO!' when she takes the bite on the fork, puts it in her mouth, leaves it in her mouth, removes the fork and then begins chewing. This has been an insanely successful strategy for both Em and Roo in the quest for getting different foods down to their bellies.

Once a sufficient amount of the meal has been consumed, Roo can be lured to try an offending bite of food with the promise that she may be excused afterwards. This is known as the 'getting down bite' (GDB). Sometimes they discover that the food is actually delicious! And they stick around and eat more.

Some foods are hit or miss with Roo. Like grapes. Lately, they've been a consistent miss.

But, the other day, I noticed she was eating them without encouragement.

She modified the 5 Little Ducks song and belted out a version she called 10 little Grapes. Apparently, when the grapes went 'over the hill and out to play', they were headed for the party in her tummy.

(I caught some of the song with my phone's video camera, so the film is a little choppy.)

I could not believe that she ate 10 grapes while she sang that song!

There are some things that Roo eats very well, though. Pizza is numero uno. That kid can put a pizza A.Way. Witness it for yourself on the second part of the video.

I'll say this, it's never dull around here. Ever.