These are pictures of Sydney. With a carrot in her hand.

This is noteworthy because Sydney has NEVER had a carrot in her hand. Like, ever. Sydney has never had broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, or any other vegetables in her hands. She has twice eaten a pea or two, but this only after having CUT IT IN HALF with a butter knife. Not kidding.

That picture on the right there? That's Sydney saying, "dude...I GET IT...I GET IT...!!!".

So--here's the story. Sydney had her five-year-old physical today, and I caught the nurse in the hallway before we went in to suggest some, ummm...."tough love" for our girl. Sydney DOES NOT eat vegetables, and REFUSES to wear her bike helmet. Now I take some small measure of pride in the fact that I am not generally a pushover, and I have done my very best with both aforementioned problems. I have made reward charts, promised gifts, threatened to back my van over her bike, punished, and come very close to stabbing her with a fork during dinner. But this nurse? This nurse was a genius, man.

The helmet? Nurse Dawson, ARNP has scared the crap out of her. In fact, we went to the post office after the doctor's office, and Sydney stopped dead on the sidewalk to ask if maybe it wasn't a good idea to even WALK without proper protection for our heads. She has talked of nothing but "smooshed brains" all day. HA! Didn't have my camera with me, but Syd had her helmet on while she was on the swingset tonight. HAHAHAHAHAAAAA....

And the vegetables? Oh, my, did the nurse lay it on thick?! Talk of losing one's hair, bags under one's eyes, brittle bones, poor eyesight, weak teeth, and such have convinced Sydney that maybe the vegetables are not such a terrible thing after all.

So here's Sydney's first foray into "vegetable land". Godspeed, miss girl. Godspeed.