And the Winner is...

Anna got up this morning with her usual chipperness. Ange took her down and started her on her breakfast while dad really worked hard to drag himself out of bed. Not surprising to any parents out there, but it still amazes me slightly that my new life of liesure involves getting up earlier than I have ever had to for any job that I've had (except for the odd coffee shop gig back in the day)... To the right, Anna early this morning in her hoodie, as it was shockingly cold in our flat.

A quick inventory of food revealed that we were in need of avocado for the favourite food selection lunch. Dad alo needed a coffee. It was brisk outside, but sunny. Like Calgary, only not quite that brisk. We stopped to get a coffee at the new coffee shop in town, which has supplanted all others for a blend of affordability and quality. We then visited the Waitrose to get avocado, picked up a nice little bottle of Italian red wine that is ridicluously cheap as this month's specialty and then walked over to the butcher. With a tiny fridge and no freezer, I find we end up buying food almost daily. The butcher is particularly friendly and when I explained that I wanted some steak for fajitas, he pulled out a couple of little steaks that he figured would be difficult to sell because of their odd size and gave them me them at cost. Then (and this makes a special trip worthwhile) he offered to cut the steak into strips for me. He noted that his knife was probably sharper than anything I had... if he only knew. And he could have seen very clearly, because I happened to have our Swiss Army knife on me to cut fruit in an emergency hunger situation.

When we got back to the flat, Anna was giving all the signs for a nap. So, we made our first of three attempts at a nap this morning. She's learned to roll over and get herself up adn crawl/stand about the crib, so naps are beginning to be more and more a time to play in the crib rather than actually sleep. However, as the one truly warm room in the house, I suppose I shouldn't complain. Anyway, after lying down, sitting up, and flopping around the crib for 40 minutes, Anna was ready for her pick-the-favourite-food lunch. As promised, the food was layed out on her high chair tray as equally as I could, as can be seen. I have to confess, I had secretly chosen avocado to win this little eating lottery with a suspicion that the cheerio might just slip in based on the level of comfort she has dealing with cheerios (a fairly regular snack fo her).

By now it was all business. Anna was hungry and she had 5 of her favourites about to be placed in front of her. There would be no humming and ahhing. She would go right for one without question. But which would it be?

We see Anna just prior to selection carefully considering her options (cheerio fans, don't worry, the tray was no yet on her high chair and after taking the photo, the cheerio was moved back into position)...

And the winning food? The food of choice? The preference when all the options are presented? Banana. Second was the gouda cheese which she certainly hadn't finished chewing before the avocado was stuffed in too. Kiwi was fourth, leaving our most popular choice in dead last. Anna Fitch: making healthy choices at 10 months old.

Robyn and Matt, you've won and all-expense paid trip for a chocolate bar of your choice to Calgary, Alberta! You'll have to email me your address as I don't actually have it?!? So we leave you with the moment of truth: