Is your head spinning yet?
We watched Tess over a period of a week leading up to her 4 month appointment because I had suspected that she was curious about the food I was putting into my mouth and possibly ready to give it a go herself. She'd started reaching for utensils and would stare at me chewing, sometimes for uncomfortably intense periods of time, before busting out laughing. Eating is hilarious. Who knew?
The bottle thing is not getting any better, that's for sure. She'll selectively take formula as long as it is heated to warmer-than-body-temp but never in any great quantities. I think the record is maybe 1.5 oz at once. So maybe this is a good opportunity, we thought, to broaden her horizons and try a little sample of what's to come? We ran it by the pediatrician and got her blessing. She gave us the guidelines: one ingredient every four days, no more than one feeding per day of "solids" (I put that in quotes because we're talking a soupy mess of three parts breast milk to one part of whatever fruit/vegetable we steam and then puree. Think the consistency of melted ice cream.) We weren't specifically instructed to begin with any one food. They more or less leave that up to the parents as there are cultural differences. Some people puree scrambled eggs and others serve up some delicious avocado smoothie. Neither would be my first choice but to each their own.
We settled on sweet potato because our sweet potato would undoubtedly take to the root veggie for which she is nicknamed. In retrospect, orange slush stains like a champ but our hunch was correct. She likes it! There was some curious lolling of the spoon at first but it was flexible silicon and good for her to gnaw as she learned how to get the food into her mouth more efficiently. She probably took 6 bites but the rest of the batch, about half a cup, is frozen in the individual portion trays for the week.
We put the whole thing on GoPro but have yet to figure out how to share the file with others. Currently troubleshooting that so stay tuned. :)
The highchair, it should be noted, is the only one we found that has three reclining positions and a removable infant pad for younger babies like Tess. She absolutely loves this thing. It's the Chicco Polly, which we had our doubts about, given the reviews that complained about washability, but people, it's plastic. You wipe it down. No washer needed. There are also seven height positions so you can adjust it to scoot up to kitchen island level if you'd like a tiny helper when prepping dinner. It fits nicely in our breakfast nook and so far, Tess has enjoyed her new throne, even if she's still slightly reclined for extra head support.
Oscar has taken to the new seating arrangements, as we knew he would.
It's kind of nice to be able to include both children at mealtimes now without having to play pass the baby between us. And we are beyond thrilled that Tess took to her first puree with equal parts pleasure and concentration. While it may be early by some standards, our hope is that by safely exposing her to a variety of flavors, we'll broaden her palate and by the time she's ready for second stage solids, she'll eat a greater range of foods than your typical toddler.
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