Free-wheeling

June had two firsts yesterday: she took her first bike ride and she ate her first lime. Both were important and here's why.

First the lime. We were sitting on a friend's porch and those friends where drinking beer with limes in it. Their little one-year-old boy was eating a lime from his mom's cup so June decided she wanted to try that bright green thing too. My friend gave it to her and I fully expected her to spit it out but her face did not even contort like I expected it would upon tasting the sour fruit. Now it could have been the fact that it had been soaked in beer. She made no distasteful face at all, just ate it like it was the best thing she'd ever tasted and would not put it down until after we got home from our bike ride and I pried it out of her little fingers. She held onto it and sucked on it the whole way home.

The friend who gave it to her told me that it was a good sign that she liked the lime because she read somewhere that when a baby likes the taste of sour things it means they have an eclectic palate. I like to think that this is true of my girl. She loves so many different things and lately she has been tasting so many new things and she has yet to spit anything out. I am sure she will one day and it will probably be something I love and I'll try not to take it personally. But until then, I am really enjoying her enjoyment of food. It is so, so gratifying to feed her and watch her eat.

The other day I gave her some polenta we'd cooked for dinner with some freshly grated parmesan cheese and a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil on top. She seemed to love it. I secretly want her to love Italian food and I'm pretty confident she will. How could a child of mine not love it? Oh and she tasted a little bit of pork sausage (no reaction) and she loves nibbling on grapes lately too, in addition to her perennial favorite, broccoli.

here she is with our friend Judy about to try some asparagus for the first time.

It was great. She hung it out of her mouth like a cigar.

She has also tried hamburger, salty crackers, baked eggs (frittata), red bell pepper, tuna and almond milk in the last few weeks. She has five little teeth now and chews everything in the front of her mouth. Just wait until she gets those molars in back and can really get down with chewing!

The second big first this week was her first ride on a bike. This was one of the most fun moments I have had so far as a mom. Feeling the weight of her little body behind me as we rode around the neighborhood, glancing back as she giggled with her face in the wind, holding onto me and patting my back...it was pure joy. I am a big lover of bikes (and her dad and I had our first date on a bike ride)and I have four of them (plus a scooter) in various states of disrepair hanging around the house. It has been a while since I've been able to get on my road bike and go for a long ride. But now I feel like I've gained a new freedom: hopping on my cruiser with June on the back and going down to the coffee shop or the grocery store or just tooling around the neighborhood. It sure beats the stroller.