Several months ago, I think around when we started introducing solids, we let Cora chew on a lime wedge while out at a restaurant. It didn’t phase her at all, and giving her a lemon slice a couple of weeks later had the same effect! On Brad’s birthday we were out for Mexican food and she tried some more lime. This time she scrunched her face up a couple of times, but it didn’t keep her from trying it again!
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Cora has steadily been eating more grown up food during her meals. Some of the latest favorites have included mandarin oranges, string cheese, homemade baked beans (almost any bean, really), cubed cheese, graham crackers, potato salad, shredded cheese, cauliflower salad, cheese, meatballs, scrambled egg (with cheese), strawberries, steamed broccoli, frozen blueberries, and ice cream! We pretty much have to avoid eating ice cream when she is awake or else it is miserable for everyone.
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On occasion, she likes to pretend she is applying makeup. I let her know that it will be years before she gets the real thing. She does rock the single green eyebrow though, doesn’t she? (You can click on the photo to enlarge in case you want to copy her application style.)
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Cora’s go-to snack is an unsalted top saltine cracker. If she even sees the box or a sleeve of crackers in the cabinet, she dives for them! Also, at 69 cents a box, this makes mommy super happy that she doesn’t have to pay $3 for a 4 oz tub of baby puffs.
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Sometimes, when we have some time to kill I dump out a couple kinds of baby food on Cora’s tray to play in. She usually tries to eat a little and then decides she would rather just live it up and play with her food. It’s sort of like the arts and crafts period of our day. As you can see, she kinda likes it. (Also – teeth!!)
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Recently, Cora started showing interest in our utensils. And by “showing interest” I mean that when we would share a little bite from our plate with her, she would grasp the fork or spoon with a death grip and shriek in protest if we happened to succeed at prying her vice-like grip from it. In a moment of inspiration by common sense, I realized maybe she should try out some utensils of her own. She seemed especially interested in the fork, so I went to buy a baby-sized one. At the inaugural use of the fork, she happily took it and let me guide the prongs to the piece of food on her tray. After carefully piercing the food bit, she raised the fork up, turning it to her mouth…and then reached up with her other hand to pluck the food off the fork so she could place it in her mouth! I died laughing. She now occasionally feels ambitious enough to take a bite off the fork, sometimes she resorts to the stab-and-pluck routine, and other times she just decides to go at it with just the fingers. Funny girl!
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Sometimes when her parents forget to feed her, she just resorts to whatever nature has to offer. In this case, dandelion fluff. 
