Developing a Taste

As soon as I found out I was pregnant with Makafui I ditched ALL artificial sweeteners. In my food, I had pretty much already done so, save for those yummy 99% fat free Yoplaits (Because who wants to spend nearly 200 calories on regular yogurt?! I'll take ice cream for that!). Drinks, on the other hand, were an undertaking. I was the queen of all things diet! Drinking my calories was a cardinal sin, so instead of drinking water, I chose almost any diet soda or "juice" drink, with a special liking to Diet Dr. Pepper. For my Birthday, I decided to give myself a little treat and try out a Diet Root Beer. Ummm....YUCK!! It was so gross! I was shocked by how quickly I had lost a taste for something that I used to love and enjoy regularly. I will not be going back to my diet drinks.

Similarly, we have had to develop a taste for grape flavored Prilosec in Makafui. The stuff is kind of odd, a little bit sweet and faux-grapey at first, but then kind of sour. When he first started taking it, it was very difficult to get the entire dose in and I dreaded those two times a day. It wasn't long though before he started taking it better and better and now, I think he actually likes it!

I've thought about this whole developing a taste thing a lot. One, I hope we are able to successfully develop good taste preferences in M when he starts eating solids. But more importantly than that, it got me to thinking about what we develop in ourselves (and now our child) simply because we practice those things a lot. Good things, like manners and helpfulness and bad things, like laziness. The thing about having a taste for something that is good, is that you don't like the bad stuff as much. It works in life just the same, but it's harder than changing food habits! I'm hoping M will soon develop a taste for long stretches of sleep. Ha!