As a food writer and first-time mom, I had grand plans of fostering my son's adventurous eating from the start. One of his earliest foods, at 6 months old, was Misery Loves Co.'s chicken liver pâté. If he tagged along to a restaurant, I fed him whatever I was eating. I silently cheered as he devoured every bit of duck confit off the top of my tot waffle at Adventure Dinner's Paris Olympics pop-up in Shelburne this summer, even though I didn't get any myself. At Frankie's in Burlington, he went so ham on the pommes purée — with his hands — that we had to order a second bowl (and borrow a towel to clean the banquette afterward). He ate beets, sardines, tropical fruits and kidney beans. Emphasis on ate. Toddlerhood is a whole different ball game. At 16 months old, my sweet, exuberant son would prefer to subsist on freshly fallen leaves and bathwater. And maybe cheese, thank goodness. As more of his calories have shifted to solid food, my adventurous eater's tastes have turned beige. Now, his three meals and two snacks a day have narrowed into a predictable roster of things he won't throw on the floor. I'm still trying, but if "food before 1 is just for fun," as they say, food after 1 is for dashing Mom's hopes. The transition from infant to toddler showed up first in my son's lunch box. I'd been sending cute little meals to his infant childcare classroom, with a couple tufts of roasted broccoli or chunks of sweet potato for him to gnaw on, packed in a small two-compartment Tupperware container. When he moved up to the toddler room this summer, he got a bento box. Two compartments turned to five, and his appetite increased accordingly. He also started eating the school-provided snack. Every day, I'd hear a bit about what he liked (kiwi, cheddar bunnies) and what he didn't (when his cereal touches milk). His sign language exploded, thanks to a love of blueberries (more!) and snack time in general (eat!). Those communication skills — and a recent mastery of nodding and shaking his head — have made it clear that he not only has food preferences but also has figured out how to express them, sometimes strongly. No yogurt. Absolutely not. Ditto for pancakes, his teacher said, even when they contained chocolate chips. Still,…