Of the many things we’re happy about in this parenthood thing, our child eats lots of foods, so far at least.

Sure, she’ll wolf down mac & cheese, a quesadilla or pizza with the rest of the toddlers (who wouldn’t?), but those meals are rare at Chez Johnson, and on the whole she eats what we eat (or a modified version). That, in fact, has worked both ways. I was just marveling yesterday about how many FRESH FOODS we now have in our house: avocados, green beans, corn, every berry you can imagine (though her true love is raspberries), sweet potatoes, grapes, bananas, even a kiwi. And she loves them all.

Thanks to our daughter, Bart and I (well, mostly me) have tasted some amazing fresh fruits in our quest to make sure Zoe gets to taste everything out there. I never even knew what a pluot was before Zoe. Now, thanks to the many Farmers Markets we’ve checked out, we’ve had many varieties, including a “dinosaur egg”. Honestly, they all taste the same to me and she doesn’t seem to notice, but hey, life’s an adventure, right? Oh, and she LOVES white champagne grapes, which look like baby chokers and taste like pure sugar (and nothing like champagne). And they are the stickiest fruits around when dropped on the floor by sloppy toddlers… I do not recommend.

Some of the surprising (to me) foods she loves follow:

• asparagas
• lemons & limes – her entire face puckers up, then she wants more
• broccoli – though our friend Kathleen’s son eats it RAW, so I guess some kids really like broccoli?
• tofu, seared with soy & ginger stir fry
• salsa – even the “hotter” versions, though I think she’s just into those for the dipping action

She’s actually really just getting in to the “dipping” thing. My niece used to call it all “dippit”, so cute. Zoe’s gotten a chance to dip French Toast in syrup, chips in salsa, bread in olive oil, french fries in ketchup, so now she thinks you should be able to dip anything. I sliced a peanut butter sandwich into sticks, and she picked up the first piece and said, “Dip?” (read: you expect me to eat this thing dry, mom?!)