Gwen's Fun Food Firsts & Fiascos
(Updated with new pictures and stories on 2/9/08)
I will never deny my dorkiness and here is a prime example. I managed to sustain Gwen on breastmilk alone for a full six months before finally caving to her increasingly ravenous appetite. Food allergies are prevalent in my family (in myself and both my brothers ranging from milk and wheat to nuts and fruit) and because of that we took the whole starting solids thing slowly. Studies have shown that children who have one parent with a particular allergy are 60% more likely to have that allergy themselves (if both parents have the same allergy the chance of their children having that allergy jumps to 90%). So I've taken my anxiety and hypochondria to a new level making spreadsheets, food journals and giving everyone around me strict instructions ("No you can not give her Cool Whip!" "Yes, one little taste can hurt her!") but still somehow managed to get pictures. We start a new food each Saturday and that half hour usually turns out to be my favorite part of the weekend.
P.S. For what it's worth, now at 19 months old, Gwen has eaten just about everything (no nuts until she's at least 2, 3 if we can help it, per the pediatrician's instructions) and has never had a reaction. I can't prove it scientifically but I like to think our taking it slow with food introduction and using common sense helped to keep her from developing a food allergy.
Week 1 - Rice Cereal: We quickly learned that she actually didn't like it running down her face and started making it thicker. Don't pay attention when the books all tell you to make it runny like thick milk; this is what you end up with:
Week 2 - Bananas: Who doesn't love bananas? If they didn't bind her up so much I'd let her eat more of them.
Week 4 - Squash: At first bite it seemed like she would like it after a few more tries; it was evident by the end of this single feeding that wasn't the case at all! My favorite part was watching her gag on it. These pictures still make me laugh.
To this day squash remains in rotation; I want her to still try and eat it even though she still hates it. At least she doesn't have to sit there until she finishes it... yet.
Week 5 - Prunes: Starting prunes was a necessary evil prompted by the addition of cereal and bananas to her diet. To my relief she loved them.
Week 10 - Carrots: You might not be able to tell but she actually loved the carrots. She ate them up and they're a great additive to chicken or turkey to get her to eat her meats.
3/26/07: First finger food - Rice Cakes! "Hello? Taste?!"
And what baby album wouldn't be complete without a few "first pickle" pictures??
5/25/07: The first time Gwen fed herself!
7/9/07: Gwen's first real peach! She was such a good sharer that every time she took a bite, she'd ask Mommy to take a bite, too! Yum!! She clearly enjoyed that peach!!
12/31/07: She loves that toast and jam!
1/1/08: I guess we really are the definition of couch potatoes seeing as how the first time Gwen enjoyed a Cool Ranch Dorito she took it right to her chair to watch Caillou. One can only wonder where she picked up this behavior from... It's still adorable, it looks like all she's missing is a Bud Light.
2/2/08: If you've never had a Sal's pizza you're missing out. To date, I don't think Gwen's ever had a slice of a Sal's and with good reason; their large pizza is a 19" 3 pound monstrosity of deliciousness (and that's just the cheese pie!). Even though pizza has long been one of Gwen's favorites, it's something we get only rarely and when we do we usually give Gwen a half slice. She's enjoyed the flavors of Pizza Hut, Papa Gino's, and various frozen brands so we decided to let her have some of our Sal's Meat Lovers. As you can see she loved it, and ate so much of the comedically giant slice we gave her that we had to pry it away from her as we were fearful she ate too much and would end up throwing it up a half hour later. Just for the record, she actually kept it all down...
2/4/08: Grilled cheese day is always a good day! She'll only eat a half of a sandwich at a time (and sometimes not even that much) and since we don't want her to become one of those "I only eat hot dogs and grilled cheese" kids we only make it for her once a week, usually on the weekends so she can bring the other half for lunch on Monday. Here she is, loving the heck out of one of her favorite foods. You'll note that she was actually stacking the two quarters together, trying to cram them in her mouth at the same time. LOL!!!
2/9/08: We've given Gwen dry cereal before, and she's tried some cereal with milk when either Mom or Dad give her a taste of their breakfast but she's never had her own. Last weekend she had some of Tony's Honeycombs and loved them so much (she was begging, saying "More" while also using the sign for "more" and pointing to his cereal bowl) we decided to try giving her her own bowl of Honeycombs. She did really well, even with the drippiness of the milk, devouring every single Honeycomb in the bowl. She's getting so good with her dexterity and control of eating utensils that I think we're going to try to let her have more cereals with milk for breakfast.
