YUMMMMMMM-O

So Reid was officially 6 months old yesterday on the 18th. The excitement of the day started off with a visit to Dr. Miles who informed us that Reid was doing great. He weighs 18lbs 12 oz which is still in the 70th percentile. He was 26 and 3/4 inches which is in the 50th percentile. Then Reid got his Prevnar vaccine, which made him mad to say the least. While Dr. Miles was examining Reid I got a different angle and saw that his two bottom teeth are emerging!!! What a surprise, I thought he might be teething, but you really never know. He has been pulling on his ear, drooling, chewing, and occasionally acting irritable for no apparent reason. That was an exciting thing to notice on the day of his six-month birthday!!

We were given the okay to start trying solids. Dr. Miles said to start with more neutral vegetables as opposed to rice cereal or fruits. She said that they will expect all food to be sweet and starchy and that it actually changes their neurons to start them on sweets (I don't know if she meant that literally or figuratively, but it got my attention- I want his neurons to be normal). She also said that rice cereal is overrated because it is fortified with iron, and that what iron is in my breast milk is fine for Reid.

I was going to try some jarred food, but I want to give him organic stuff and they only make sweet foods it seems. So I am going to be making babyfood for Reid. I went to Native Sun which is a health/organic grocery store. I got him an avacado, an acorn squash, a sweet potato, green beans, and peas. We started with an avacado. Erik said he didn't want to be around when I tell Reid later in life that his first food was an avacado. Now before you send me a nasty e-mail RICH, let me defend my position. Avacados are very good for people, they have monounsaturated fats which are very healthy. Also they are good and mushy and don't have to be cooked. Plus they really don't taste like anything, so I figured it wouldn't be too strong of a food for him.

We have to wait 4 days before trying new things, so he is stuck with it for 4 days. He was less than thrilled with it. We got the expected gagging and shivers of disgust, but overall it was anti-climactic. He did better tonight. Got a couple bites down. The problem is that it takes him a while to figure out how to get it to the back of his mouth to swallow it. Plus he isn't very fond of it so when it gets "stuck" in his mouth he gets mad. Tonight he gagged and threw up pretty much everything he had eaten so far (Which really wasn't much), but overall though he did better than last night which is all we can ask for.

I am going to try squash next. I am excited about making Reid's food. It actually seems easy. You just cook it, puree it, then freeze it in ice cube trays. Each cube is a 1 oz portion. After the cubes are frozen you put them in a freezer bag and pull one out when you need it to reheat it. They are good for 3 months. This way I know what is in his food and I imagine it tastes better too. It has to retain more nutrients than the jarred stuff.

I will keep you all updated on our upcoming eating adventures!!

Bon Appetite