Ben's First Taste of Solids

At Ben's 4 month well baby check up, the doctor mentioned that we could start Ben on solids. Some kind of cereal. I politely declined stating that I just wasn't ready for the hassle that comes with solids. The clothes and bibs that would need cleaning; the extra utensils and bowls that would need washing; the added time that it would take me to prepare then feed the food. Too much trouble. No thanks!

Ben? Had other plans.

My first clue that he was ready for solids was the smacking, licking, and sucking of his lips. Then he started sticking out and curling his tongue. And then? He started staring me down whenever I ate. And it wasn't a nice stare. Not a curious, what are you doing? stare. It was more of a "give me some of that now!" stare.

Now, unlike with Andrew, when I immediately ran out of the doctor's office and bought every bowl, utensil, and cereal made for infants when I got the okay from the doctor to start solids, I waited until the last minute to buy Ben the cereal. And I just grabbed the first box I came across at Publix. And when the time came to feed it to him, I forgot. Of course, he reminded me with his not-so-polite stare.

So after Andrew and I were digging in to our dinner last night and Ben began to protest loudly in his swing beside me, I quickly read the directions on the back of the cereal box for "Baby's First Feeding" and mixed up that baby some dinner.

And he attacked it. Literally. You know how a baby kind of goes after a paci when he is super hungry? Well that was his approach to the spoon with cereal. He loved it! In between his bites, when I was trying to shovel my dinner in my mouth and encourage Andrew to eat his, Ben would fuss until the next spoon of cereal was in front of his mouth. And then he would lunge after it. He finished his first bowl and was still hungry. I stopped him after finishing half of the second bowl. I didn't want to risk an extreme blow out in the middle of the night because his tummy was so full of rice cereal!

Yes it was super messy. Yes I had a few extra dishes to put in the dishwasher. Yes it did take some time to feed the babe. But the satisfied look on his face was worth the extra effort on my part.