Sammy's loving Baby Led Weaning

Sammy boy, you LOVE to eat!
 

Sometime in the last week, eating for a purpose just clicked for you.  I keep looking under your highchair, to the side of your highchair, inside the pocket of your baby bjorn bib (fyi, the best bib ever) to see where all the food went.  75% used to go over board, which made Bailey a happy camper and a tad bit chubby, but it looks like somehow 95% is now going into your little belly and Bailey is back to being the grumpy middle child.  Some days, I have no idea how you put that amount of food into your little belly, but I'm trusting you and wondering if there is some sort of growth spurt I'm missing.  I do still pray, please GOD don't become the 650 lb, 30 yo virgin.  I kid, I kid. 

A few weeks into starting solids, we went into full fledged baby led weaning mode because spoon feeding Mr. Independent wasn't fun and you basically thought purees were for the birds.  You eat pancakes and fruit with me in the mornings and for lunch and dinner I give you a rendition of whatever it is I am eating.  While I no longer need to worry about Autumn stealing my food, I am having to keep a look out for you as you've nearly nabbed my muffin and pancakes many a time. 

One concern I had of BLW and giving babies adult food was salt and fat content.  I really think you are helping me diet because if what I'm eating you can't eat then it's double the work for me.   I'm trying to be adventurous with my food choices now, since I don't want you pigeon holed into not exploring new tastes because I am a semi boring eater. 

Getting us both into the routine of eating 3 solid meals a day wasn't without effort.  For a while with so much food spilling all over the place, it was too much of an ordeal to feed you three times a day.  There just wasn't enough time and I didn't feel comfortable rushing you through your meal so that we could go do something or put you down for a nap.  So for quite the while, all you had was lunch.  Somewhere in the last few weeks, as you improved your accuracy of getting food to your mouth, you also increased your desire/need to eat.   I think your desire to eat may have also increased because you now see it as something social and fun.  Also, your hand eye coordination has improved drastically because of BLW, you can grab, hold, and pull toward you any toy you want now.

Here you are eating lunch with me at my favorite joint, Whole Foods in Fairlakes.  Yay for having their flagship store in our "backyard"!

 Some of the things you love the most are asparagus and carrots because you can get a good grip on them, watermelon on the rind because it's cold and helps with your teething, pears and honeydew because they are squishy.  Peas because you can chase them.  You absolutely loved Grandma's meatballs.  I mean you seriously were like nom nom nom nom nom.  Everyone couldn't get enough of you stuffing your face like cookie monster.  Grandma was especially proud.  You also downed her chicken soup, which gave her quite the thrill. 

 While, I've made 99% of your food, I do mix in some store bought items.  Puffs and yogurt melts are your absolute favorite.  They are gone even faster than grandma's meatballs.

Here you are enjoying your momsicle (frozen breast milk in a popsicle mold)!  This really helped you out when you were cutting your first two teeth.

 

 Happy Eating!