Can you believe it? I certainly can't. It seems like only yesterday (well, okay, not yesterday...I mean it feels like we've had her a long time, so not really yesterday, but also, definitely not 7 MONTHS ago...) we were bringing home our tiny little Smush-Pie from the hospital. And now, here we are feeding her solids, making her giggle, watching her try to crawl...I mean, really.
At 7 Months old, one of Kayla's biggest accomplishments has to be her new mastery of the art of solid food eating and sippy cup using. She is getting better and better at maneuvering the spoon to her mouth and swallowing down the entire bite. Gone are the days when each bite took four attempts - into the mouth, drooled down the chin, spooned back up, into the mouth, drooled down the chin...I'm not going to pretend we don't still have our messy times. Yesterday, for instance, we had one sneeze mid-bite which sent food flying over Mommy's shoulder as well as underneath the nearby couch. We also, yesterday, had a realization that when Kayla gets really excited about eating, she is happy to yank that spoon toward her mouth so hard and so fast that it acts as a rather lethal slingshot, flinging food many feet farther than food has previously been flung! But, despite these messy moments, Kayla is working on her technique and is becoming pretty darned good not only at eating, but at feeding herself.
Her menu options thus far:
Rice Cereal
Winter Squash
Green Beans
Carrots
Banana
Water a la Sippy Cup
Oh, and peas. But, as I said, the first pea attempt was something of a failure, so we have to revisit that one before it really counts.
So far, most of Kayla's food has come out of a little glass jar, with the exception of the peas and banana. That said, I have just started making my own baby food and stockpiling it in the freezer for future use. So far I've made sweet peas, apples, zucchini and broccoli. (Side note: pureeing broccoli = pain in the arse. Seriously, those little trees just don't want to turn to mush. I admire their fortitude, but seriously, you are a VEGGIE and will eventually be broken down into less than mush by stomach acid, so in the battle of Broccoli vs Blender, just give up already!). On the menu in the coming weeks, I still have butternut squash, cauliflower and pears all ready to puree. Ironically, while I am purchasing, preparing and storing all these lovely foods for Kayla, I am still sorely behind on my plans to start regularly making dinner for Chris and myself. While I am peeling, chopping, steaming, pureeing and portioning out fresh meals for Kayla, I have made dinner for Chris and I only twice in the past week. Yup, twice. I'm sure there is some sort of irony in providing your child with only homemade organic foods while you yourself chow down on yet another meal from the Taco Truck, but whatever. There is simply too much to do in a day. I don't know how other women manage, but I'm finding it tough. Between taking care of a baby (which, honestly, is more than a full-time job), working full-time, trying to keep the house clean, trying to keep up some semblance of a social life...finding time to plan and cook dinner is really tough. Usually it isn't until 6pm when my stomach suddenly screams "FEED ME WOMAN, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!" that I even realize I haven't thought about cooking for myself. Somehow in the midst of changing baby, feeding baby a bottle, feeding baby solids, comforting baby, playing with baby...your own needs get pushed off into the "To Do" pile. This is why women really ought to get one week a month off. I think every mother needs one week a month to just catch up on her own life - to workout, to eat, to pay some bills, to see a movie, to get her hair done, to read a book...to just live. Not that taking care of baby isn't living; it is a special kind of living that is actually doubly full, but, it is also a sacrifice of sorts. You give up a lot of your freedom, a lot of your ability to be selfish, a lot of your "priorities". The strangest things suddenly take top priority: pureeing broccoli, singing "The Wheels on the Bus", monitoring poop consistency, stopping to feel the textures of fall leaves...and suddenly a whole lot of things that used to be priorities fall way way down the list. Suddenly, measuring out tablespoons of rice cereal becomes so much more important than that dentist's appointment that you really should have made two months ago and you realize "Holy crap...I'm a MOM." That's right. M.O.M. You have taken on a new persona that actually cares about someone else, some tiny little someone, SO MUCH MORE than it cares about. And all of a sudden, steaming broccoli and pureeing pears seems like the most natural evening activity; far more natural than going out to dinner or out for drinks. Not that you shouldn't puree with a glass of wine in hand, mind you. After all, even M.O.M.s are human.
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