Nora's First "Solid" Meal

Now that Nora is almost five months old, we've started her on solids. With Owen we waited until he had his first taste of Avacado, a food a bit more substantial than rice cereal and breast milk, before we wrote a blog post on his first solids, but we decided Nora's first taste of semi-solids warranted a post. She wasn't quite as excited as Hazel was for her first taste of rice cereal, but she took to it fairly well. Our little baby is growing up...

Caca

Owen started saying "caca" a few weeks ago. Despite its Spanish meaning, we were pretty sure that Owen was asking for a "cracker" whenever he used it, and responded by giving him something in the complex carbohydrate family and congratulating him. However, Owen's use of the word quickly morphed into whatever food he was in the mood for, including pears, bananas, tortellini and other non-cracker like substances. Yesterday, he used "caca" to refer to the brass knocker on our front door and the chain on the the storm door. Allen is convinced that when Owen uses "caca" he really does mean something and that we as parents are simply failing to understand him. I think Owen is just babbling and that Allen is full of caca. Any thoughts, gentle readers?

Party Boy

First birthdays are tricky -- it's not as if a one-year-old can tell you what they like, at least in any discernible way. So we tried to put ourselves in Owen's place: If we were one, what would we want? Allen and I agreed on a scooter for his present. I suggested an ice cream cake for Owen's actual birthday. And Allen suggested that we let Mom-mom plan and execute his birthday party. Two of the three were a hit.

Owen loves his Radio Flyer. Contrary to my sense of order in the world, Allen convinced me that we should give it to him a day early so that we could fully enjoy his enjoyment of it. It was totally worth it.



The ice cream cake cake received mixed reviews. He seemed to like the chocolate, but as you can see from the video, he couldn't quite get over the brain freeze.



The party was a hit for everyone involved. Owen was in a great mood (loads of attention and a lack of baby gates always perks him up), and Mom-mom made some delicious brined pork loin sandwiches (which Owen didn't try), a wonderful banana cake (which Owen liked better than the ice cream cake, but not as much as plain bananas), and some fresh watermelon slices (which Owen decided were the best food ever).

Independece Day

Today I was just confronted with the first of what I expect to be a long line of events where Owen asserts is independence, and lets me know that he doesn't need me, he can do things himself, thank you very much.


Elaine is off at a wedding shower, so Owen and I are having a nice little father and son day, which I've been looking forward to (even after he had horrible nights sleep and a minuscule nap this morning, leaving daddy rather exhausted). The difficulties began when I tried to give him a bottle shortly after mommy left. I knew he must be hungry, but he was having none of it, screaming and turning his head away when ever I tried to convince him to eat. So, I decided to let him have it his way, and we put the bottle aside and went for a walk. When we returned he was starting to get really fussy, and I knew he really must hungry. We tried the bottle again, and again he refused it, hitting the bottle and turning his head away. Frustrated and about to give up yet again, I let go of the bottle, and to my amazement, Owen picked it up and started feeding himself. Fortunately, the camera was within reach, so managed to capture Owen's accomplishment. He ate for 18 minutes, fell asleep clutching the bottle, and I moved him over to the swing. Now, he might just let Daddy have a little nap.

(editor's note - Owen woke up before daddy got his nap in, but not before he but a little video clip of Owen and his bottle online here.)

Solid!

If you've been following the recent Owen pictures on the right, you already know that 2007 has brought some big changes in Owen's gastronomical options. On New Year's Day, we gave Owen his first taste of solid food. He had been showing some interest real food for a while (when one of your favorite activities is putting things in your mouth, how could you not be interested in stuff that even mommy and daddy put in their mouths!), so we decided that Owen's New Year's resolution would be to start eating real food.

I've waited a little while to write this post, because after we prepared Owen's first meal of ground up rice cereal mixed with breast milk, the adjectives "solid" and "real" didn't seem to apply to the type of food we were introducing him to. He didn't seem to mind though, and reacted to his first bite as if it were the most interesting thing he ever felt in his mouth (which it probably was). We spent the first week adjusting the whole family to our new routine. After the first feeding we quickly realized that it was time to add a high chair to our stable of baby accessories. We also decided that messy process of transferring food from bowl/chin/bib to Owen's mouth was a job best suited for daddy.

Owen's culinary adventures really began in his second week on solid food. While the rice cereal was a pretty uncontroversial choice for his first food, the real debate began when deciding what his second food should be. The choice really comes down to fruits vs. vegetables: some argue that fruits like bananas are best because your baby is already used to the sweet taste of breast milk, and the sweetness of fruits make for an easier transition; others argue that if you introduce sweet fruits first, it will be harder to convince your baby to eat vegetables later. We decided to split the difference and start Owen off with avocados. Avocado is a good Texas food, and while technically a fruit, it's not too sweet, and hopefully it will convince him later in life to love guacamole! Thankfully, Owen took to the avocado like a champ, and he really seems to enjoy dinner time. It looks like introducing him to a world of new flavors is going to be a lot of fun!

So how did that first meal go? Take a look for yourself...