Silly Old Bear

Hello again! I decided not to keep my public waiting a full week this time - be proud! Thank you to everyone who participated in my little experiment! You guys left some very funny and entertaining comments, and the next time I start to feel a little down on myself for some reason, I'll just come back to that post. And thank you, Kimberly, for airing my not-so-fresh laundry on the internet :) Actually, there is a very funny story on how Kimberly and I came to be great friends that I will have to share sometime.
Christa, or "bear" as we call her along with another several nicknames (poor thing is probably confused about what her name actually is) showed a particularly quirky side of herself tonight at dinner. We were invited to join some of the family at the local Mexican restaurant and happily accepted. I ordered Christa a taco and plate of beans, which she usually loves - especially the beans. She ate a little taco, but wasn't as excited about the beans as she usually is. I couldn't figure out why, but didn't dwell on it too much and continued to offer her other choices from the table. She kept pointing at the food, but refused everything I tried to give her and became increasingly fussy. I finally gave up, and held her on my lap while I tried to eat a few bites. She continued pointing, so I tried the beans again with the spoon we'd been using. She pushed it away and shook her head. I tried some of my rice and got the same response. I handed her a chip, which is usually a shoe-in, and nothing seemed to work. I tried the beans with the spoon one more time, since they're usually her favorite, and then gave up. I decided that I just wouldn't be able to make her happy, and proceeded to enjoy my own meal. As I took a bite of my rice with my fork, she gestured. I offered her some rice, and was greeted with the same frustrated head-shaking. Then, a crazy idea popped into my head: surely we aren't going to all this trouble because Christa wants her beans fed to her with a fork instead of a spoon... lets try it and see what happens.
Sure enough, Christa happily accepted the bite of "fork beans" into her mouth. And then another bite. And then another. Thinking that it's crazy that my 13 month old would be so picky as to eat beans with a fork but not a spoon, I switched back to the spoon just to see what she would do. After a bite, she began shaking her head and refusing the food again. I switched back to the fork, and she proceeded to eat the entire plate of beans.
I shouldn't be too surprised at this. I discovered a few weeks ago that she will eat fruit if I give it to her whole, but not if I cut it into small pieces. And she will eat yogurt from the carton, but not from a bowl. And she will drink water from a straw cup, but not any kind of juice. And she will drink milk from her bottle but not from her straw cup.
I'm starting to wonder if she has a touch of OCD! Now, if I could only figure out the trick for getting her to eat some veggies...