Eating Solids!

"I'm eating solids!" shouts Camden, proudly. He started solids a little over six months old, and he hasn't looked back since! He loves to eat peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas (both pureed and bite-sized pieces), pears, apples, zucchini, squash, rice and oatmeal cereal, puffs, yogurt melts, and wheat teething biscuits. He was not a huge fan of asparagus (he threw it all up from making himself gag over it), avocado (I should have pureed it), and cauliflower (I'm so glad we finally finished those pesky cauliflower containers!). Next up, we will try cherries and more bite-sized table food. I love getting to try out all of the recipes from my Cooking for Baby cookbook. And, if you think making baby food is hard, you are wrong. It is so easy! Most of the time, I just steam, roast, or boil his food, let it cool, and puree it up for him! Then, it gets poured into small freezer containers and stacked in the freezer. He absolutely loves it - I think he knows that it means he is a big boy, and I am comforted in knowing exactly what is in his food. No artificial sweeteners, no high fructose corn syrup, no genetically modified ingredients. Just plain fruits and veggies! And, this teaches him to like the tastes of the foods themselves and not the flavors of all of the additives! Also, he likes to sit in his bumbo chair and watch me make his food, so he even participates in the preparation!

After a really great meal of green peas - sometimes he likes to wear his food!

Proof of the battle we had over cauliflower - I'm not sure how much he actually ate during this meal. The funny thing about cauliflower is that the recipe book actually suggested serving whipped cauliflower to the rest of the family as a healthy substitute to mashed potatoes. I think that we will not be trying that after our experiences with trying to feed it to Camden.

Again, Camden: 1, Cauliflower: 0. We were actually counting down the number of cauliflower containers in our freezer, and Neal and I would have to take shifts while feeding it to him. I would do the first half of the container, and Neal would take over for the second half of the container. Camden also decided that he liked it best warmed up. He still was not very fond of it! He would actually close up his mouth, and shake his head no when we tried to give this to him! What a silly, smart little boy!

Camden is also figuring out that we are usually eating something good whenever Neal and I sit down for a meal. He stares at us and watches our mouths! He even tried to stand up in his high chair at a restaurant and steal food from Neal's plate! He can't wait to be a big boy! So, now, we always try to make sure that he has bites of food to enjoy while we are eating, so he can practice eating with the rest of us. I am so proud of how he is learning to eat! However, he still loves to nurse, and I make sure to nurse him first, so he gets the majority of his nutrients and protein before his baby food meals - just in case he decides he is full before the meal is over!