Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The joys of solids

We started Lorelei on solid foods a few weeks ago. Most people I know started their babies on solids before six months but I mostly waited until after. I say mostly because she got a nibble of banana, a little avocado and a few sweet potato puffs while she was 5 months old.

We started with rice cereal mixed with breast milk but I quickly moved away from that

So far she has had

Rice cereal
Banana
Avocado
Asparagus
Peas
Carrots
Sweet Potato
Apple
Chicken
A few pieces of rotini with a tiny bit of spaghetti sauce on it

and chewed on a leaf of lettuce- she may or may not have eaten any of that

I've been playing with Baby Led Weaning (which is misleadingly named because she still gets all the nursing she wants) ... she does get some pureed stuff but she also gets finger food every meal. Her purees are a bit textured, and we don't buy jarred baby foods

Her favorites are banana and avocado and she LOVES the fresh feeder- it's a handle with a mesh net that holds food. They chew on the mesh to squish the food out. It is easy and something she can do herself. The real "baby led weaning" advocates decry both the use of the mesh feeder and any sort of pureeing, but I really like doing a bit of all of it. She gets used to the varied ways of eating so its all good.

Friday, January 2, 2009

6 months old!

(this is unedited stream of consciousness-ness.... because for some reason I just can't organize this)

Oh my little Lorelei, I have fallen so deeply and totally in love with you.

We make each other laugh throughout the day
You love listening to me make up silly songs and I love listening to you practice your singing and consonant sounds.

You love your naked time, and we have finally gotten a bit of a bedtime routine down so that getting you to bed doesn't involve frustration and tears anymore (or at least, far less often)

You stick your tongue out a LOT.. probably a third of the photos I have of you includes your tongue sticking out.

You have a beautiful smile that you love sharing with almost everyone. You are a huge flirt from within the safety of your stroller or me or your dad's arms. You smile at people until they pay attention and then hide your head against my chest, over and over until you are used to their presence.

You roll over like an expert and get angry when something (or someone) stops you.

You can spend hours standing up with the aid of someone's hand or the edge of something (anything sturdy really) Luckily for us, you can't pull yourself up yet.. but that also means you can't really sit down from standing too well either.

When it is bath time, you stand at the edge of the tub and screech while the water is running. When I turn off the water, you stop screeching. Bath time is fun- you lay in the tub and kick and splash and babble until the water gets cool.

The cats are learning to mostly steer clear of you, but when you manage to touch one you squeal and try to grab the biggest handful of fur possible. Then, of course, you try to get that handful of fur into your mouth.