Finger Food & Merry-Go-Rounds

We got the O.K. from the pediatrician to start feeding Xavier finger food.  We introduced Puffs and Yogurt Melts around month 8, but he didn't take to them very well.  The coordination between getting food from the table into his mouth resulted in such a mess!  And, he was so frustrated he couldn't get them in his mouth.  We haven't fed him finger food since.  I also was a little worried about the Puffs and Melts dissolving as quickly as they claim.  

Well, now that he's a month older, all that has changed!  He is a pro at getting food from the table to his mouth.  The first few times he did it, we were so excited with the "yay"s and clapping I think we scared little X.  Granted, there is plenty of food covering the floor and surprising us during diaper changes, but there is so much improvement from the last time we tried it.  

We are entering a whole new territory in terms of meal time.  We now let him sample all the foods we eat (blueberries, blackberries, chicken, mashed potatoes, watermelon, avocado, broccoli (we steam the sh*t out of it), Fro-Yo, etc.)...  Oh, this boy loves FroYo.

He enjoys the new foods, but still prefers the Puffs because they are easier to pick up and aren't as slippery as some other foods we give him.  Eventually, we will switch to a less expensive substitute, Cheerios.  As much fun as this has been, it is a whole new type of mess making.  Like two-hour-old-mashed-avocado-behind-the-ear messy.  Be prepared for a few extra dirty bibs, face wipes, and swiffer pads.  His main source of nutrition is still coming from the bottles, but our pediatrician wants him to learn the skill and have it mastered by month 12, when we start to wean him off the bottles.

We took Xavier to a park downtown this weekend to ride the merry-go-round.  He thoroughly enjoyed it, and so did I, as I've not ridden on one for 20 years.

                             

Xavier is also babbling a ton now.  I swear the other day he said "hot-dog."  Most proud mama ever.  He also has taken to calling everybody "da-da."  Makes for funny moments when he does this to all of Steve's friends.