Solids

This has been yet another wondrous and exciting chapter of our journey as parents of our not-so-little baby girl!

It all started when she was about 5 1/2 months old. We got her a high chair and let her play in it at the table when we'd be having a meal (mostly breakfast since dinner happens after her bed time). Sophia's always been interested in objects and actions she hasn't seen before. She was intensely watching our spoons and cups going to our mouths and back, and food and drinks slowly disappearing from the table. From the look in her curious eyes we could tell she knew something important was happening, but she wasn't quite able to figure out what kind of mysterious ritual or game her parents were following or playing. Also, the certain funny shaped 'curved yellow fruit' constantly attracted her attention. So we decided it was the time to lift up the curtain and offer a tiny bit of banana to our banana girl. She tasted it, stopped to think about, tried some more and at the first opportunity she leaped forward and tried to grab the whole thing, actually biting off a small piece with her two little teeth. This was just the beginning.

For the next few days both Kyle & I found ourselves reading and researching lots of websites mentioning anything concerning the introduction of solids. The wholesome baby food website was especially helpful to us. Of course, always wanting the best for our precious little one we decided to take the healthy food route and chose yams as the perfect first food for baby. Somewhere I've read that at this stage infants just eat whatever you give them. Well, the pretty little picture I had in my mind of Sophia eagerly opening her mouth and happily swallowing whatever I offer her was cruelly shuttered to pieces by the incredibly adorable grimace that appeared on her face with the first taste of yams. She absolutely hated it. I think had I given her the most unripe and sour lemon that has ever existed she would've had less of a frown.

But it's not always that bad. You can see the precious faces she makes in the previous post.

Since then Sophia has been changing her preferences quite often but the consistent favourites are:

-bananas

-apples

-pears

-prunes

-banana and apple puffs

-acorn squash (most of the time)

-bread

-turkey

-whatever Mommy & Daddy are eating :) Turns out our little cutie loves company and when she sees us eating she could probably swallow an elephant without noticing. When she's on her own I have to come up with all kinds of tricks to keep her entertained so she doesn't get bored with food unless I'm trying to give something from the list above.

Sophia tolerates the following foods (especially mixed together with one of the items mentioned above):

-rice cereal

-home made quinoa cereal

-carrots

-commercially made peas

-chicken

-avocado

She absolutely hates:

-yams

-home made peas

-cream of wheat cereal (that has recently moved from the middle list into this one)

On a more serious note we got the Baby Brezza One Step Baby Food Maker for making all kinds of purees, which I absolutely love. Also, Krups Coffee Grinder has come in handy for making cereal at home.

Overall it's been lots of fun trying out new things and watching our sweetie pie grow:

Recently I've noticed that Sophia isn't interested in being simply fed. She wants to touch her food and try new textures. Once in a while I let her do it (luckily this time around she had some cereal with carrots and squash, so it doesn't look too disastrous. Though trust me, there was a lot of washing done after the picture was taken):

So we decided to try finger foods. Of course, at first it wasn't an easy feat, but Sophia braved it and soon enough she started eating puffs on her own and the percent of the pieces that actually make it into her mouth is increasing too. I'd say from 20/80 to 50/50 when she grabs them from the tray or 70/30 if she picks them up from my hand one by one. This weekend we stopped to have lunch at Specialty's Cafe & Bakery and since Sophia wasn't satisfied by puffs alone we gave her little pieces of bread and turkey that she excitedly picked out of Kyle's hand.

So the times when we were able to eat whatever we wanted are long gone. Our curious baby girl has discovered a whole new world of tastes and she is holding on to it for dear life! Imagine what's going to happen when she learns about chocolate and candy!

A completely unrelated to the topic of the post picture of our cute-heart that I cannot help sharing: