Our Little Foodie

It's been a week since we introduced Kate to her first solid food.  I think there are plenty of folks out there--some of you might even be reading this blog!--who are apprehensive about how we've chosen to transition Kate directly to table food.  Well, I'm happy to say that so far it's been going great!  Kate's had solid food each day this week.  Until she really gets the hang of it, we have her doing milk feedings at school, but eventually we'll get her transitioned over there as well.  In the course of the last week, Kate has tried the following foods:

- broccoli
- asparagus
- apple
- banana
- avocado
- pear
- cauliflower
- apple sauce
- rice cereal
- mango
- honeydew
- rice cake
- cucumber
- snap peas
- pear sauce (kind of like apple sauce, but with pears!)
- green beans
- oatmeal
- cheddar cheese
- banana yogurt
- cantaloupe
- carrots
- sweet potatoes

Sometimes Kate sits in the highchair to eat and sometimes she sits on my lap.  We (quickly) discovered that it's much easier to strip her down before she eats, and then dunk her in the tub once she's finished.  If she's tired, cranky or hungry, we skip the food.  That's a little different from the normal "introduce food when they're hungry" mentality, but we really want Kate to "eat" for the learning and exploring experience at this point and not to get rid of her hunger.  Sometimes she eats for upwards of 40 minutes--other times she only lasts about five minutes before she starts to fuss.  She loves when we give her applesauce or yogurt.  It's lots of fun to splat it all over the place.  Copper has quickly learned that hanging out under the highchair results in lots of tasty treats.  In fact, this evening, nearly five hours after Kate had some yogurt, we discovered that Copper was covered in it.  He had dried clumps of banana yogurt all over him.  He was in the drop zone under the chair while she was playing.  Needless to say, someone will be getting a shower tonight.

Kate seems to really like green beans, and we've been working on drinking water from a cup.  Right now it mostly dribbles down her chin, but we'll keep practicing.  Thankfully, we haven't had any choking episodes (just like the book said we wouldn't), but there have been a few times where Kate has gagged a bit (just like the book says she would).  My heart stops each time it happens, but she always works whatever it is out of her mouth, and I think she's started to realize that she needs to swallow.  I've brushed up on my baby first aid just in case (we took a class before Kate was born that went over infant CPR and the Heimlich), but hope that I'll never need to use either.  Kate is always supervised and is NEVER, EVER left alone with food in front of her.  She's never given small pieces, and food is cooked so that it's soft enough to break down, but not so soft that it disintegrates when she puts it into her mouth.  It's so much fun to watch her explore and learn.  Sometimes she looks so serious and like she's deep in thought while she's smearing food all over the tray, and other times, she looks like she's just having a blast.

I've taken lots of pictures and videos, and I think that's the best way to share our little foodie in action.  Enjoy!

-- Rice cereal--->bad.  Baby oatmeal--->yummy --

-- Copper bats cleanup --

-- Working on a tray of green things...honeydew, green beans, avocado, and cucumber --

-- Having carrots for breakfast --

-- Taking a sip of water --

-- Hey!  I love sweet potatoes! (and so does Copper!) --

-- Lounging while I enjoy a stick of cucumber and a green bean --

-- Smearing around my yogurt and pears --

--  Winding up --

-- A mess is the best! --

-- Splat! --

-- Yogurt nose --

-- Oh geez --

-- This is starting to get pretty messy...and I love it! --

-- Can you tell that I like to rub my head while I'm playing? --

-- Come here, Mama! --

-- Banana yogurt keeps my skin looking youthful.  And tasting delicious. --

-- Eating is fun! --

-- Not only am I covered, but so is the side of the high chair tray! --

-- I think it might be time for a bath. --

-- Just a girl and her green bean --

-- Hi-ho the dairy-o, Kate eats the cheese --

-- These veggies make my mouth water! --

Friday, Friday, Friday

Today was my SDO (that's a scheduled day off for those of you who don't speak government employee), which meant that I got a bonus day to spend with Kate.  We had a wonderful day together--Kate laughed and smiled for most of the day and was so much fun to hang out with.  She decided to start her day early, and woke up around 3:00 am, ready to play.  She normally sleeps through the night, but last night she fell asleep in the car on the way home from school and she never really woke up.  I ended up changing her into her pjs and putting her to bed around 7:00.  It seems that her first full week in the new room at school wiped her out.  Her teachers say that she's all over the place, interacting with the other kiddos and crawling all over.  And it took it's toll on the little bug, who couldn't keep her eyes open.  But around 3:00 am, she'd had enough sleep and was ready to go.  Brandon swooped in to the rescue (good thing too because I was dead to the world--I didn't even hear Kate!) and finally got the little one back to asleep about an hour and a half later.  Unfortunately he didn't have the day off, so he went to work feeling pretty sleepy.

The first thing we did on our day off was head to Kate's six month doctor's appointment.  Our little Bean is indeed little--she weighed in at 14.4 lbs, which puts her in the 25th percentile for weight.  The nurse didn't take a very good measurement for length--it actually appeared that she shrunk since last appointment (and judging from the pile of pants that no longer come to her ankles, we know that's not true).  The doctor always measures her head circumference as well, and it turns out that she has a little peanut head--she's in the 10th percentile for head size!

-- All dressed up for my doctor's appointment, and I can't figure out what's on my feet!  I'm actually wearing shoes! --

We had a good appointment with Dr. Garrison, who says that Kate looks happy and healthy.  He answered all of my questions--and boy-oh-boy, did I have a lot of them--and checked did all the normal appointment stuff.  He was surprised that Kate is already having stranger anxiety.  He said that it usually doesn't set in until about 9 months, but her newfound anxiousness was a sign of intelligence--she already knows who takes care of her and realizes when she's around someone she doesn't know.

In addition to the regular check-up stuff, Kate had to have another round of immunizations.  This was my first time in the room with her while she got shots, and I was afraid that I was going to cry and cry.  It turns out that I didn't have to--Kate Louise was a brave little lady, and she didn't cry at all!  She whimpered each time she got a shot (there were three), but she never shed a tear.  I was so proud of her for being so brave!

After the appointment Kate and I did some shopping.  We decided to donate to the "Angels in April" program they're holding at the CDC in support of Child Abuse Prevention month.  We picked two "angels" from a tree at school, and bought them gifts.  We got a big Tonka truck and some Matchbox cars for Hernandez, and some new outfits and lotion for Layne.  We also ventured to Trader Joes were we bought lots of groceries, including some little mini zucchinis for Kate.  Once we returned home we spent the remainder of the afternoon playing.  All in all it was a very nice day, and I'm so grateful I get to work this schedule!

-- I'm practicing my "Are you kidding me?!?" face for the playoffs --

-- I spy with my little eye... --

-- I'm on the move --

-- Getting closer --

-- Gotcha! --

-- This sucko didn't stand a chance --

-- Now the tricky part...hitting my mouth --

-- I need a little more practice! --

-- My baby mullet is the perfect compliment to my Pens jersey --

-- Taking a nap with Daddy when he got home from work.  He can't hang after a night of partying with me --

6 Months!

It's hard to believe, but Kate is already six months old!  We can't believe how much she's changed over the last six months.  We'll take her in next week for her six month check up, but we weighed and measured her at home--unofficially she's tipping the scales at 14.4 lbs, and 28 inches.  We'll see how those numbers compare to the doctor's next week.

It wouldn't be a monthly birthday without Kate's picture--here are her six month photos...

We decided to celebrate Kate's big day by giving her food for the first time.  We've decided to try a different approach to food than the regular cereal, puree progression.  Instead, we're going to try self-feeding, where Kate basically gets table food from the start.  The idea is that she learns to feed herself, and all the motor skills that go with it, and does so at her own pace, without having to switch from pureed food to food with different textures.  Hopefully, this will lead her to be a good eater without picky tendencies.  And don't worry, she's closely monitored and everything is portioned so she won't choke.  She'll continue to get milk feedings so she's getting what she needs nutritionally, and we'll supplement with food.  We know they won't be fully onboard with this at daycare, but it's been fun to watch her play and learn over the last few days.

We did start with cereal, but it didn't go all that well....we'll keep trying :-)

-- First bite --

-- What the hell is this stuff?? --

-- I don't think I like it... --

-- Yep, I know I don't like it --

-- I had to take a little break after the cereal to recharge...so I did some playing --

-- I'll just snack on this plastic apple instead --

-- And now it's on to broccoli and asparagus --

-- Look!  This is easy to pick up! --

-- And it's gross!!!  What a mean trick! --

-- Maybe I'll give it another try... --

-- Well, it's still a no --

-- And this asparagus stuff?  SICK --

-- I'm better off snacking on this plastic tray instead --

Day #2 was a little more successful.  We know that Kate doesn't have the skills yet to actually eat anything--she has to learn to use her tongue to move the food to the back of her mouth to swallow it, and of course, she doesn't have any teeth yet to chew with--but right now, it's more about learning and experimenting.  On her second day, Kate had cereal, broccoli and asparagus again, but also got to try some apple, banana, and avocado.  Part of the idea is to include Kate in the social experience of eating, so when Brandon and I sit down to a meal, so does she, and she eats the same foods.  We had pizza for lunch which isn't quite acceptable for day two of solid food, so she got some more veggies.  But she looked like she was having fun exploring textures and tastes a bit, so it was a small victory :-)

-- Ah broccoli, we meet again --

-- Hmmm, Mommy likes this stuff --

-- Playing with my food is fun--why is everything so slippery and hard to pick up? --

-- I'm starting to get the hang of this! --

-- Yum yum yum --

We'll keep taking pictures as our journey into the world of food continues!