In Which Peanut is a Stinker

Peanut doesn't like to eat. This is a picture of her tasting cereal for the first time:

It looks remarkably like the last time she tasted cereal. There have been many cereal events between, and yet she still hasn't gotten used to the taste. For that matter, she hasn't gotten used to any taste. I tried applesauce with her, at which point she actually barfed. Ever since then I haven't gotten her to shut her mouth and swallow so much as a single spoonful. She makes a face, then opens her mouth wide and waits for the offending taste to dribble out. I wait a few days, hoping she'll forget, then try again. I'm beginning to despair she'll ever eat. She's 7 months old, for crying out loud.
Loon gave us a little bag on a handle that you put food into. The baby sucks on it and strains the food into their mouth. Unless it's my baby, who gums it until she notices there's a flavor, then studies the handle for a while before flinging it away. And if you try to put it into her mouth she purses her lips! Oooooo! Willful! Today I squeezed some grapes into a little bowl, stuck my finger between her gums so she couldn't block me, then spooned the juice into her mouth. Oh the faces! At least she didn't cry. Or barf. Maybe juice is the way to go, I'll just put it in a bottle . Ha ha ha. What a mean trick. I know that's what she's going to think, that I've played a mean trick on her and ruined a perfectly good bottle. At some point she's got to get used to the idea, and I don't see how she will unless she gets practise. And since she seems to be progressing from just letting it dribble to actively pursing her lips, I'm running out of ideas.
Boy wasn't this difficult. Although I suppose he's making up for it now. Simon and I had a long, long, long talk with him last night. We reached the conclusion that Boy was upset because the guest was beating him soundly at his own games on his own turf, and if he could beat Boy at everything, what was the use of Boy? Boy feels like he has no value if he can't be the best at something. Which is very sad. I remember feeling this way myself at points later in life, and having to come to grips with the fact that people have value simply because they are alive. I've always hoped I could impart this knowledge to Boy before it hit him in the face. I thought by telling him that comparison is bad, and that there will ALWAYS be someone better than you at whatever you're doing, he would take it to heart and ride smoothly over that bump in the road. Apparently not. He knows it in his head but he doesn't feel like it's true, and I don't know what to do about that.
Can't figure out how to look it up on the Internet either, which is my usual way of hunting down things I don't know.
Going to deal with my life now,
ephelba