If it is food on a spoon he will either come toward you with an open mouth or keep it zipped up even while smiling while gently pushing your hand with the spoon away from him. If it is finger food it is either picked up and put in his mouth or picked up and dropped on the floor. No questions about what he is and isn’t interested in at all. He may not be talking yet but he is an excellent communicator. All orange foods seem to be his favorite and it already looks like getting him to eat green vegetables will be a challenge. What he doesn’t know is that his Grandma thinks eating green vegetables is very important and is willing to try a variety of approaches to win him over.
Fran, his Mom, has been making almost all of his food and he has no idea how spoiled he is. The food is much tastier and has a nice texture compared to store bought food. Zach’s favorites include sweet potatoes, plums, peaches, carrots and pears. The “orange colored family of foods.” A recent addition to his favorites is peach yogurt. Fran adds her home cooked peaches to plain yogurt and it is really a tasty treat - so Zach has let us know. Once in a while he has some store bought baby food at Grandma’s since I keep a few containers for emergency purposes at my house. Fran has dubbed this “Baby Burger King.” If you are interested in making homemade baby food, Fran recommends this great website with recipes:
Wholesome Baby Food
More recently Zach has been eating finger foods and table food. That is always fun to watch as he picks up some food – sometimes really in his hand and not between two fingers - and maneuver it into his mouth. We watch and cheer on success. Learning to pick up something small which to this point everyone has avoided you being anywhere near – and get it into your mouth is really quite a skill and takes practice and interest to master. So the food has to be tasty for Zach to be willing to put in that effort.
Zach enjoys Puffs and Cheerios. No – Puffs are not the tissues. Puffs are a lighter version of Cheerios. They come in a variety of flavors and Zach's menu includes peach, banana and sweet potato flavors. This is a new product since my kids were babies but definitely check them out. Both of these have become quite a favorite snack.
Some of Zach’s favorite table foods that he can pick up himself are grilled chicken and meatloaf. On Saint Patrick’s Day he enjoyed corned beef. No cabbage though - too gassy. Today is Palm Sunday, ham will be on the menu.
Hungry yet? Quite a menu for someone who only had formula just a little while ago. Every aspect of experiencing a baby grow and do new things is so much fun to be part of. Watching Zach learn to eat “real” food, seeing his preferences, wondering if he swallowed that or is it still hanging out in his mouth makes every mealtime an adventure. I love it!
It’s Spring – almost and we have been spending more time outdoors. That’s next on the writing agenda. Please share your experiences for all of us to enjoy in the comments and Check back soon.
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