Iris got four new teeth this week, which is giving me hope that the end of the soft food regime is near. According to Wikipedia:
> In oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dogteeth, fangs, or (in the case of those of the upper jaw) eye teeth, are relatively long, pointed teeth, evolved (and used, in most species where they remain prominent) primarily for firmly holding food in order to tear it apart, and occasionally as weapons.
Let the fun begin!
As you know, I’m a firm believer that babies and young children can and should eat the same food as adults. I call it [the first rule of baby food](https://www.rootsandgrubs.com/2006/01/12/the-first-rule-of-baby-food/). But, like any rule, there are times when it chafes. There are foods I love that a baby can’t eat, like pork chops (too chewy) or lightly stir-fried vegetables (too crunchy).
But Iris is no baby, and I’ve seen her gnaw her way through a whole apple and a huge pile of cucumbers and eat a mass of Chong Gin Hot Chicken from Seven Stars Pepper, which is equal parts crunchy, chewy, and spicy. (She ate her first apple in the store when I gave her an apple to hold, and when we got up to the cashier I realized that this was different from eating a candy bar in the store, in that you don’t have to weigh a candy bar. We got the apple free. Score!)
Last night I made corned beef and cabbage, and I didn’t let the corned beef braise long enough, so it was a little tough. Iris did not care. She ate it like she’d just survived the potato famine. So I’ve probably been too reticent about introducing crunchier, chewier, and otherwise more challenging foods. She’s outgrown the phase where, upon encountering something too crunchy for her young jaws, she would hand it to me and say, “Dada, crunch it.”
Maybe next week I’ll make Thai beef salad.
My kids have spanned the gamut from sushi-gobbling toddler to one who adores cooking and after many years (finally) eating French food to one who starved her way through Europe rather than tasting anything that wasn’t string cheese. Same parents, same very liberal food introduction scheme, but in our house it equaled three very different kinds of eaters. All of which is just to say that you are BLESSED that Iris is such an enthusiastic and adventurous eater so far but, hey, touch wood.
Paula, I know this. When I was Iris’s age I ate like she does. Shortly after that I entered a picky eating stage where I was basically only interested in pepperoni pizza for the next seven years. So I’d be the first to admit that there is *nothing* you can do to prevent a picky eater.