The Preferred Food Condiment These Days

...is ketchup. Ivan, who really hasn't eaten anything since Mila's birthday party except for "ochine" (oatmeal), seem ocassionally willing to give other foods a try if they're dunk in ketchup. He really wants to eat just ketchup, but since I'm not about to allow him to just spoon ketchup in his mouth--the way he eats cream cheese, yuck--he's willing to have ketchup rest on something.

Today, that something was chicken. I was thrilled. He actually ate half a breast of chicken with ketchup on top, some of it with a baby fork, other with his fingers.

For a few weeks ending with Mila's birthday on May 23, he was eating like a champ. Well, he was eating everything except for fruits and vegetables. At Mila's birthday, he actually ate two sarmas, not the cabbage but the rice and meat inside, and some other things. That same weekend we went to Dave and Xenobia's house for a BBQ (and a swim in the indoor pool, which was so much fun and Ivan loved it and I should've probably written about that as well), where Ivan proceeded to eat two hotdogs. Not the bread, not the ketchup, but just the hotdogs.

And after that he decided that he's just not that interested in eating. He's been eating sandwiches (pbj or cream cheese or cheese/prosciutto) and pizza.

Two weeks later, at Maya's birthday party, which was also a BBQ, he absolutely refused to touch a hotdog or a burger. Instead, he laid the hotdog on the side and proceeded to eat the bun with ketchup.

Last weekend at Beth's football tailgate, he also refused any sort of food (he did nibble on something.) I was actually jealous of Sam, whom I observed eating fruit and a burger.

Apart from ketchup, his eyes light up for pizza. I'm not sure what so magical about pizza suddenly.

He also still seems to be stuck on the yogurt kick. While I've stopped buying yoyobaby yogurt, I did buy some regular yogurts last week, which he ate. Since then he's been telling us "kupit yogurt." My mom will finally acquisce tomorrow and take him yogurt shopping.

He also likes to eat out. He eats better at a restaurant (beans at a Mexican restaurant, where last time I also managed to give him spinach-filled quesadilla by calling it pizza, and rice and sandwiches at Lebanese Taverna) and will definitely try free samples at Trader Joe's and Costco's.

Last summer and fall, Ivan was crazy about fruit. He went through a pear, blueberry and grape phase. But for the last few months, he's very fruit averse. At least I thought he was eating apple sauce we give him for lunch. It was one container that consistenly wasn't making it back home. Unfortunately, last week, Ms. Yvonne told us not to give it to him anymore because he never eats it. They open it and then have to throw it. (This past week, to prove her point I guess, she repacked the apple sauce so we can see for ourselves that he's not eating it.)

For now, he's still crazy about bananas. I hope that lasts.

And I hope he starts eating fruits and veggies sometime soon.