Hooray for Solid Food!

[marydell]

We decided to give Charlie his first taste of solid food for dinner tonight.  He's recently begun watching us intently while we eat, and this weekend we were out at a steak-and-egger and he started sticking his tongue out and licking his chops when he got a whiff of Mike's omelet.  It was pretty hilarious.

So we checked with the doc, read up on the process, and so now I have a little stash of rice cereal and gerber veggie slurry to start introducing him to over the next couple of weeks.  Yes, I know that real mothers cook and puree their own vegetables, but I am upholding a proud family tradition of women who can't cook worth a damn.

Anyway, we sat him up on Mike's lap and I mixed up some rice cereal--"solid" is overstating it--and as soon as he got his tongue onto the stuff he broke out in a huge smile, and then proceeded to have no idea how the fuck to eat it.  He still has the instinctive thing of pushing most of the food out of his mouth instead of swallowing it.  Using my finger for a spoon worked a little better.  Anyway he concentrated intently and managed to consume a total of about a quarter of a tablespoon.  Nutritionally, it's pointless, but he LOVED it--he was just having a blast with the new sensation and taste, and later in the evening he was sticking his tongue out and touching it and generally indicating that a mouth is a cool thing.

Of the many amazing things about being a parent, one of the most amazing is that I get to shepherd a fellow human being through these absolutely primal experiences. 
 

Comments

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I love how you're all scientist-observer about it. I often skip over friends' baby-stuff posts because they get all sentimental and Hallmark-y over them, and in my current stage of dealing with a teenager, I'm NOT feeling very sentimental about babies. But the way you talk about Charlie? It's almost the way I'd expect Spencer Reid to react if he were put in charge of a baby. It's great!

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

I second that. Observing how a baby reacts is an important part of being a parent. But then, I'm male and not at all,ahem, hallmarky.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

And I'm female and not hallmarky! Hurrah for unsentimentalists.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

True. Children are lovely, but there's nothing sentimental about changing nappies.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Spencer Reid, woo! Yeah, I'm totally crazy about the little guy, but I'm not a sentimental person, I guess. Or, to the extent that I am, I'm aware that it's gross and should be kept private! Whereas the analytical stuff seems like more people would be interested.

[vcmw]

I was watching a toddler nom the edge of a piece of pizza recently, and it was totally fascinating that way.

He clearly wasn't going to be able to bite off an actual bite. But he really loved sucking on the bread/sauce. Then when the parents ate their slices, the toddler stared at them just as you describe.

[redrose3125.livejournal.com]

eh - real mothers feed their kids!

[unhappytriad.livejournal.com]

Heh. I still have fond memories of the time we gave our eldest (now 24) her first spoonfull of real (as opposed to baby-pureed) applesauce. She got the most affronted look on her face--like Margaret Dumont confronted with Groucho--and spent the next 4 or 5 minutes moving it around in her mouth and trying to decide whether she was fascinated or disgusted. I'm not sure whether it was the texture or the taste (it was slightly tart), but it sure got her full attention.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

LOL, I can totally picture this. So far Charlie's just tried rice cereal, and peas, and he really likes peas. Applesauce is a ways off yet :)