Adventures in Eating

So we finally got the green light from the advice nurse to try solids. Callie hadn't been sleeping well for quite some time. We assumed it was teething, but her two bottom teeth are out (and totally adorable I might add), so we started looking to other possibilities. She had hit all the milestones that they say mean they are ready for solids: can sit up while supported, can hold up their head and neck and are interested in food. The first one was the one that was plaguing us for a while. I had been trying to get her to sit up at playdates and at home, which was pretty funny, actually, because she would just start to fall over in all different directions. And then we go to our music class on friday and bam! She sees all the other kids sitting and she gets it. So there you go, peer pressure can be a good thing! I called the advice nurse just to get a second opinion and she said it sounded like she was ready. Hallelujah! I was so excited! I was just so ready for something new. We had definitely been in a rut. I was at Bye Bye Baby, that store is the devil by the way, and spied some baby cereal, so I bought it. I didn't really look at it, I just tossed it in the cart because Callie was melting down and I had to get moving. I didn't notice that it was Gerber. Ugh. Also known as Nestle. I do my best to avoid buying Nestle products. To find out why, check this out. I didn't notice it was gerber until after I gave some to Callie and she also is not a fan of Nestle! She hated it! And I couldn't blame her. I took a whiff and it smelled awful! Then I looked at the small print on the label and was mad at myself for not looking more carefully. Oh well. She spent most of the meal putting her fingers in the spoon, she clearly wanted to do it herself! Oh, the teenage years are going to be interesting with two strong willed women in the house. Poor Bill! She grabbed the cereal and rubbed it on her face for a little baby facial and then grabbed her legs so she successfully bathed herself the cereal. Lovely. Smelly sticky baby. But I didn't let myself get discouraged. I didn't want to force her into anything. We certainly don't want an aversion to food this early on. So I cleaned her up and called it a day.
Yesterday it was a totally different situation. I picked up some new baby cereal made by Earth's Best. It smelled much better than the Gerber stuff. We still didn't have a high chair so I just sat her on my lap and gave it a whirl. She was all over it! She was just sucking it down.

I was so excited, like really excited. It kind of surprised me how elated I had become. I was so proud of her, I was proud of us! We did it! We hit a major milestone. It really made me realize how quickly things are progressing now. I was positively beaming. And then...

she started screaming her head off because there was no more!
The next day I decided to try to give her a bit more than the day before. It wasn't going quite as well as yesterday. And then I figured out why. A friend had dropped off their booster seat since their kids had outgrown it. And Callie was just absolutely hating it. She kept drawing up her knees trying to kick up at the tray. So of course in the process, all the cereal was just sliding out of her mouth onto the bib, her clothes and her neck. Once I took her out of the seat and sat her on my lap we were in business.
Next week we are going to try to move on to some squash that Grandma Tere lovingly grew in her garden, cooked and pureed for us. It should be interesting and very colorful!