Starting solid foods! (aka rice cereal bath)

He is now taking a little bit of rice cereal mixed with formula before bedtime each night. This began as a really hysterical event where he spit it out, dribbled it out, looked seriously affronted by this inferior "spoon" technology we were foisting on him He has such a darn expressive face, and his arched eyebrows and vague shadow of discontent seemed to say: what is wrong with you people and this stupid little metal thing? hey, where'd that amazing bottle thing go? why aren't we using that?

That first night he wound up wearing most of it. I think I had to swab some out of his nose even. He started crying about halfway through the tiny serving (about 1.5-2 Tbsp) so we dumped the rest into his bottle and fed him his night bottle.

The second night was marginally better, but still no great triumph. The third night was a little better. He actually leaned forward with his mouth open each time, but then when he made contact with the spoon and the rice cereal his face screwed up into a look of consternation. He would reach up and grab the spoon in his little fist while I was trying to feed him.

The fourth night was something of a breakthrough. He's still no great expert at the whole spoon thing, so I spend a lot of time putting the food in his mouth, then scooping it up off his chin and putting it in again. But last night he finished his entire serving without crying or losing it. What a champ! And he seems to get the connection between the spoon and eating, because when he holds the spoon in his own hand, he puts the big round end into his mouth, but never the other way around.

Terry and I are both super excited to move into the realm of food. The pediatrician says that after four straight days of him doing well on rice cereal (eating the whole thing without negative reaction), we can move on to introducing pureed veggies! So if all goes well tonight, we can do veggies as soon as tomorrow. It is just another step on the road of watching our little guy become a little person. And watching him experience the world for the first time is a precious and wonderful thing.