Anyway....they also have this thing called "Apron's Kitchens" where everynight from 5-7 pm there's this area where there is a woman cooking something "dinner like" and next to her is a freezer thing with everything you'll need to make that dinner. They give out samples hot off the stove for you to taste, with a little salad and bread to boot! This is actually a perfect Mimi portion. So i'm standing there feeding her off my mini plate some risotto, chicken, and brushcetta and this man, about mid 30's walks up to me. Typically when strange men walk up to me I feel instantly weirded out and protective of Mimi (as a mom should I guess). He smiled a big goofy smile at me and said:
I just wanted to tell you how nice it is that feed your kid normal table food. I have twin 6 year old girls who love everything from calamari to sardines! I think it's great that you let her try everything. More people should do that.
Well thanks for the boost strange grocery store man. I do try to expose Mimi to all types of food. I actually noticed that she was the one that initiated her transition from purees to more solids. I noticed around 7 or 8 months she started to refuse "baby food" or purred food, and wanted to not only eat larger solids, but she also no longer wanted me to feed her with a spoon. Even now at 11 months, she wanted to put the food on the fork or spoon herself and eat it. Mostly she still eats with her fingers, but is feeding herself all the same. I don't think I deserve any kind of award for this--I didn't really do anything. The only thing I did do was let go of my intense fear of her choking and let her learn to chew. I don't give her foods that she can choke on, but I give her some pretty hefty size cuts of foods and she does really well all on her own. She now can be given 1/2 of a banana not cut up and do just fine with it.
The only other thing I've had to watch out about it letting her see my reaction to a food before she's had a chance to try it herself. For example, I HATE sardines and anchovies. YUCK. But, my husband LOVES them. When he wanted to give them to Mimi about 2 months ago, I said "well you can try but I don't think she'll like it" what the hell did I know--she loved them. My husband got a big "I told you so" out of that one. My friend kim has also given her horseradish and other other spicy things to see her reaction, and some of the stuff you'd think she'd spit out and hate she didn't even turn her nose up to. I think as parents we think our kids will have similar tastes to ours, but i've found that not to be true in many instances. I hope that I can keep exposing Mimi to new foods and let her make her own mind up on what her tastes are.
Okay, so that's my long and drawn on story for today. On other new...
My dear friend Grace has started a new blog called "Suburban Life in a College Town" Please hop on over and check her out. She only has one post right now, but I hope she'll do more soon. She's a mom, mother, and an engineer. She has some interesting takes on life, love, and parenthood. I think you'll enjoy it.
Here's a photo of Grace holding Mimicans in January. We took our girls to a local nature center where they have all sorts of farm animals to feed. It was pretty cold that day too.
Hope everyone is doing well!
2 comments:
i'm glad you posted this because wyatt has given up on baby food (after i bought like 100 new jars). so i've been really puzzled as to what to feed him since i don't really cook for myself. he's been eating things like lean pockets and pasta salad from the deli (i suck). i've been feeling guilty that i don't cook up these crazy amazing baby meals.
Thanks for the shout out! Anyway, that's funny. My daughter is the opposite. She just turned two and up until about 6 months ago would ONLY eat many veggies if they were pureed and in a jar. My fault, I'm sure, as I was very afraid of her choking and didn't introduce chunky foods until about 9 months.
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