Food exposure works!

Well at least sometimes for us!

We first started having squash and zucchini back in May. We would put one of each on Alex's plate. The first time he ate a very very small nibble from each. The next time he took an actual bite.
Now it's July and the kid can't get enough of the stuff.
He had been eating just the few we would give him, but when grandpa and grandma were here, he actually started taking them from everyone's plate once his were gone. He ate some of grandma's and then started eying all of the plates to see who had more.

We had a repeat tonight where he ate at least as much squash and zucchini as I did. I'm not going to complain one bit that he's happy to eat veggies!

This method has worked well for several things. He gobbled up his mixed veggies the other night and didn't leave the green beans on his plate as he usually does. He used to just eat the peas and now he eats ALL of them!
He now also eats baby carrots, although we have to make sure he takes nibbles because he doesn't like having too much in his mouth. He'll even eat them without ranch now!
Oh and string cheese! All when grandma was here and eating string cheese she'd ask him if he wanted some. She got many "no thanks'". I actually got him to eat most of a string cheese the other day!
And he actually decided to try my bagel with cream cheese the other morning after asking him many other times if he'd like some. He only took a nibble, but he said "mmm!", so I imagine he'll continue trying it and one day it will be added to a list of foods he likes.

I have definitely had to learn not to stress about food. I used to stress a lot when he was younger and we had some battles. Man, those were not fun nights. I had to learn to just let it go.
Now we give him a little bit of new things and let him know that he has to try at least one bite. If we give him food that he usually will eat and he's just not into eating it (distracted or whatnot), he doesn't get any other snack before bed and can continue to eat his dinner if he's hungry.
Oh, we also give things fun names. The zucchini and squash started out as green lights and yellow lights. :)

Feeding kids is always fun and I'm hoping mine will only be as picky as I make him (due to my own pickiness and having control and choice over what meals are made).