Finger Eat'n Good*

This past week marks another milestone for Lukas. It may seem cliche to say that each day or each week brings something new for a baby, but it's a cliche because it is true! It seems that just last week he was learning to roll over, or learning to open his hands, or even just learning to laugh. But, when we stop and think about it, all that happened months ago . . . Lukas is moving on past those milestones at a dizzying pace.

Life can come and go so fast in that amazing first year of development. In the case of his eating habits, it was just before Christmas when we first introduced solid food to Lukas. He took to it amazingly well and was eating full jars of a variety of organic fruits and vegetables within a couple of weeks. And now, just a couple of months later, we have introduced him to his first finger foods.

We started by holding an apple for him to gnaw on. He had 3 bottom teeth at the time (now he's getting his 4th), and enjoyed the novelty of scraping his little pearlies against the tart apple and sucking it down. We then tried out the standby for all babies working on finger food - Cheerios!
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It was awkward at first with Lukas grabbing an entire handful and trying to open his fingers just enough to smoosh one into his mouth without letting go of the remaining handful. Very slobbery, and very inefficient, but he loved it! He would come away from the highchair covered with soggy bits of Cheerio and very happy. A week of practice under his belt, he's much better at grabbing an individual O and putting it in his happy little maw.

Now Mrs. LIAYF cuts and peels a soft wedge of pear for Lukas, which he grabs and brandishes like a spear before carefully nipping off bits, mushing them up in his mouth, swallowing some and spitting the rest out. He completes the task of eating by rubbing his pear smeared hands into his hair - which already has Cheerio mush in it. Nice. Maybe we should market this new hair product. "It smells good, and makes a tasty snack for later!"

Lukas makes an admirable mess, but is just as cute as can be putting food into his face. And, he's very, very proud of his skills. He barely lets us feed him anymore. If we are feeding ourselves during the meal, he wants to feed himself too. Now, we just have to check out the daycare menu - it starts fingerfood for babies 9 months old (the age Lukas will be in a couple of weeks). The menu has some amazing diversity, so he's going to experience a lot of foods. Crackers and fruit. French toast. Cooked pasta. Animal crackers. Muffins. Edamame. Burritos????

I don't know how he's going to eat that burrito. But, I'm sure his hair will smell like beans when he gets home.
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*Co-written by Yours Truly and Mrs. LIAYF