Henry’s First Solid Food Adventure!

Like most aspects of parenting, the introduction of solid food seems to be a hot-button issue– when to start, what to start with, what method to use, etc. As a sidenote, I have to admit, I don’t really understand why every aspect of childbirth and parenting seems to be mired in such controversy. Can’t we all just mind our own business and ruin our children’s lives in our own way? Anywho… Cumbie and I are taking the same approach to introducing solid food as we have with most other parenting decisions: We read the research and listen to the advice, but ultimately we let our instincts guide us. Since breastfeeding has been going great (i.e. it’s free, Henry is growing like a chubby weed, it’s always available without any prep work or cleanup, and did I mention it’s free?), we decided to wait until Henry was six months old before introducing solid foods.

However, we got about a week’s early start this weekend when we found some really well-priced organic avocados. We’re taking a very laissez-faire approach to food at this point because we’re not reducing breastfeeding yet so he’ll still be getting everything he needs from that. So basically we’re just going to offer him food and he can eat it or not. Some of it, all of it, or none of it. No big deal.

We were Skyping with Grammy on Saturday just after we had bought the avocados, so she got a sneak preview of his actual first bites (or first face smooshes, really), but here he is on Sunday when we set him up in his booster seat at the table and put a few chunks in front of him:

The verdict? Really fun to grab, squish, smear, and smash into his mouth, but the taste? Not so much. Every time he “accidentally” took a bite, he would  go “bbbbbbbbbb” until it spilled out of his mouth and down his chin and chest.

Cumbie and I were convinced he hadn’t swallowed a single bit until about an hour later when we were greeted by a small stream of pea soup-green spit-up. So, I guess he did swallow a little!

Overall, it was a fun and hilarious little adventure. Henry really seemed to enjoy himself, even if the taste wasn’t the best.

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