We gave Annalie her first taste of mashed banana the day she turned six months old. She sucked on the spoon, looked at us with an expression that said, “You mean that stuff you guys have been putting in your mouths all this time tastes like THIS and you haven’t been sharing!?” then grabbed the spoon from me and tried to shove the whole thing into her mouth.

I know that with babies you’re supposed to only offer them one food at a time to make sure they aren’t allergic to anything, and I sort of did that at first. Then I got lazy and bored and before long Annalie was happily eating a decent array of fruits, vegetables, grains, and even meat. She often ate whatever we were eating, mashed up.

Once when Annalie was about eight months old and we were eating at Wild Noodles, Troy had an enchilada dish that was rather spicy. Annalie ignored her Cheerios and kept trying to grab food from his dish. We told her it was hot and she wouldn’t like it. Then we gave her a little bite, expecting her to make funny faces. Instead, she smacked her lips and opened her mouth for more. In her first year of life she also regularly ate pieces of tofu from my hot-and-sour soup, and enjoyed sucking on dill pickles.

As I was unpacking bags and putting groceries away one day when Annalie was about 18 months old, she suddenly started saying, “Ba-COB-ba-cob, ba-COB-ba-cob!” and pointing at something on the counter. We tried to figure out what she wanted—sippy cup? goldfish crackers?—and finally realized she was pointing at the box of store-brand zip-lock bags. I asked if she was pointing at the bags, and she shook her head, pointed again, and said more urgently, “Mama, BA.COB.BA.COB.”

That’s when we noticed the picture on the front of the box: a zip-lock bag with pieces of broccoli in it. I tentatively asked, “Broccoli?” and Annalie nodded her head and beamed. “You…want some broccoli for a snack?”

“Yesss! Ba-COB-ba-cob!”

We had always fed Annalie broccoli, but up to that point had no idea she loved it so much. I bemusedly microwaved a dish of frozen broccoli while Annalie danced around happily, singing, “Ba-COB-ba-cob, mmm-mmm-mmm!” Troy set her up in her chair at the table as I cut the broccoli into small pieces. She ate every last bite and asked for more. “Meeee ba-cob-ba-cob?” (She used to fuse “more” and “please” into one word which was so cute it killed us.)

Annalie has gotten a little pickier about food as a preschooler, but I think that probably has more to do with asserting control over her world than with how foods taste. Often when she refuses to eat something and we encourage her to take just one bite, she’ll do so reluctantly but then a smile will spread across her face and she’ll exclaim, “Hey, I do like it! It’s good!” And pickiness is relative. She still loves broccoli, green beans, chickpeas, rice and beans, chili, curry, tomato soup, meatballs, carrots, celery, boiled eggs, all kinds of yogurt, cheddar cheese, gouda cheese, parmesan cheese, mashed potatoes, and almost any kind of fruit. She’s been known to pass up ice cream and cake for blueberries, strawberries, and watermelon.

We went to Souplantation for dinner the other night and Annalie was walking down the salad bar saying things like, “Ooh, carrots! I better make sure I get lots of garbanzo beans. Can you help me get some peas and corn, please? Cucumbers, yum!” Then when we went to the soup bar, Annalie chose to try the Morroccan Garbanzo and Lentil Bean soup for the first time and loved it.

(Are you hating us and our vegetable-eating kid yet? Would it make you feel better if I told you that Annalie has always fought sleep and that putting her to bed still involves an elaborate ritual of bath, reading books, telling stories, prayers, singing songs, and rocking? It actually takes MUCH less time now to put her to bed than it used to. We used to spend the better part of two hours every night putting her back to bed over and over and over again. I can’t wait for her to really start reading, so I can tell her, “Here’s your flashlight. Read in bed till you fall asleep!”)

I am constantly amazed by her love of so many different kinds of foods, and I know what a blessing it is. I have friends who have to struggle at every meal to get their kids to eat. I have a lot of sympathy for them because I used to be one of those kids.

I was the pickiest eater imaginable as a kid. I didn’t like broccoli at all till I was in my 20s. When I was a kid I wanted to eat something besides iceberg lettuce and PB&Js and plain white rice and Cheerios. But many foods had a texture or smell or color that made me gag.

I outgrew my aversions and learned to love onions, cauliflower, butternut squash, marinara sauce, garlic, and all the hundreds of other flavors I couldn’t imagine life without now. At four and a half years old Annalie already likes all those foods. I remember mealtimes when I was a child often being a big struggle. With Annalie mealtimes are a genuine delight. For that, I humbly give thanks.