Baby In The Lead
7:42 PM
You probably guessed that Bean is eating solid foods by now. What you may not know is the journey she has taken to get here. LONG ago (ok, so in the past year, but it feels like forever), I read a blog post about a woman who, instead of going through the "rice cereal, then purees, then finger foods" process, just gave her baby a piece of green pepper when he wanted it and went from there, with the baby eating real food along with the family the whole time. "I'm totally going to do that," I said to me. I still bought some spoons and purees of foods not available here on the island (which I know doesn't make sense if my plan was to avoid purees), but I was fully intending to go with her philosophy, because it made sense to me. She mentioned a book "Baby-Led Weaning," but books are hard to come by here and it seemed silly to send it when we're only here for such a short while, so I was sure I could go it alone. I was wrong.
The first food I offered Bean was mango, which seemed a delightful option to me. It was very slippery and, while she seemed to enjoy the flavor, she could not get a hold of it to eat it no matter what she tried. It was a mess. So I mashed it and fed it to her with a spoon. Then I did the same with bananas. And then I blended up some green beans (Bean eating beans - classic, right?) and some spinach with pumpkin. And all of a sudden, I was all caught up in spoon-feeding my baby all kinds of purees - exactly what I didn't want to do. I even fed her a jar of store-bought sweet potatoes. Sigh. ;) We tried rice cereal, but for some reason she was zero interested in its blandness.
Enter my birthday. My sweet mom sent me the book. I devoured it. I ceased and desisted with the purees. I gave her finger-shaped and sized bits of food and watched her go for it. She LOVED it.
Here's a video of her, just a couple weeks into her "learning to eat solid food" process:
She now eats all kinds of food, and she's getting all kinds of fast and efficient. She has also made some glorious messes. I love watching her explore food this way. She has become a first-rate beggar, too. Anytime there is food being eaten anywhere in the house, she gets very quiet and alert, like a predator sneaking up on an innocent . . . small helpless thing. She watches us every moment there is any kind of food in our hands. She smacks her lips. And if the food is not offered to her in a prompt manner, she gets the most sad/demanding look on her face that you can imagine. It awesome/frustrating. It has cut down on my open cookie intake (of course the hidden cookie intake remains intact).
Even without teeth (still, not a single one), she is a force of nature. Bananas? Easy. Gone in mere moments. Melon? That's a snap. Broccoli? A little more challenging, but still delicious and worth the effort. Star fruit is a new favorite. Crackers and cheese and ham and chicken and pasta and all kinds of delicious things are all a part of this new life. It has definitely made me more aware of my own dietary habits, this sharing with a tiny person. It's friggin' awesome. Here, I'll show you:
We are pretty excited to see how much she will enjoy teeth. Just think of the things she'll be able to do. I mean, if she can eat pizza now (yes, yes she can), steak isn't that far off, right? Also, we look forward to getting to Utah in the season of corn on the cob - oh, how I'm sure she'll love it.
Conclusion: Independence begins early in this house. Happy Independence Day, all.
The first food I offered Bean was mango, which seemed a delightful option to me. It was very slippery and, while she seemed to enjoy the flavor, she could not get a hold of it to eat it no matter what she tried. It was a mess. So I mashed it and fed it to her with a spoon. Then I did the same with bananas. And then I blended up some green beans (Bean eating beans - classic, right?) and some spinach with pumpkin. And all of a sudden, I was all caught up in spoon-feeding my baby all kinds of purees - exactly what I didn't want to do. I even fed her a jar of store-bought sweet potatoes. Sigh. ;) We tried rice cereal, but for some reason she was zero interested in its blandness.
Enter my birthday. My sweet mom sent me the book. I devoured it. I ceased and desisted with the purees. I gave her finger-shaped and sized bits of food and watched her go for it. She LOVED it.
Here's a video of her, just a couple weeks into her "learning to eat solid food" process:
She now eats all kinds of food, and she's getting all kinds of fast and efficient. She has also made some glorious messes. I love watching her explore food this way. She has become a first-rate beggar, too. Anytime there is food being eaten anywhere in the house, she gets very quiet and alert, like a predator sneaking up on an innocent . . . small helpless thing. She watches us every moment there is any kind of food in our hands. She smacks her lips. And if the food is not offered to her in a prompt manner, she gets the most sad/demanding look on her face that you can imagine. It awesome/frustrating. It has cut down on my open cookie intake (of course the hidden cookie intake remains intact).
Even without teeth (still, not a single one), she is a force of nature. Bananas? Easy. Gone in mere moments. Melon? That's a snap. Broccoli? A little more challenging, but still delicious and worth the effort. Star fruit is a new favorite. Crackers and cheese and ham and chicken and pasta and all kinds of delicious things are all a part of this new life. It has definitely made me more aware of my own dietary habits, this sharing with a tiny person. It's friggin' awesome. Here, I'll show you:
We quickly learned that bibs are over-rated.
But avocado is not.
It's important to have vision and determination.
Only suckers need teeth to eat apples.
Spoons are harder than they look.
And yes, you can get awesome fat rolls from eating prunes.
Conclusion: Independence begins early in this house. Happy Independence Day, all.
1 comments:
Ok...I know I've already seen the video, but I love, love, love this post! What a cutie. Love the avocado mess and the adorable fat rolls. :)
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