The Lesson of Solid Foods

2nd solid meal

Who knew that feeding a baby solid foods would be so challenging, or need such patience...but it is and it does. I have gotten such a crash course lesson in patience since Johnathon was born that it's not even funny! I've never had much or cared to gain any, for that matter. And while Johnathon can be really fun, he can also be really trying.

I thought that feeding food to a baby would be tons easier and would play out something like this:

Rice cereal, YUM!

Baby eagerly awaits arrival of spoon. Open the mouth would go and in the mouth spoon would travel. Food would be deposited and then baby would wear said food. Spoon would do damage control and then travel back to the bowl where more food would be loaded on to spoon. Repeat.

I won't lie. Johnathon caught on to the idea of being spoon fed pretty quickly. The very first time, he screamed his head off. Then my mom tried and he ate like a pro. He really didn't even need a bib. He, for the most part, is a very tidy eater. He is also usually very cooperative and eager and will usually sit up straight in his bumbo seat and not try to stuff the entire bib in his mouth. And then there are days like these:

Johnathon's new thing is sticking his lips out and puffing up his cheeks...

More?

That day the green beans he was eating even managed to get up his nose...

As you can see from the sate of the bib, he repeatedly stuffed it into his mouth.

Not every day can be perfect. Some days the minute you put him in his bumbo seat he screams and refuses food. Some days he has an incredibly short attention span and keeps looking at anything BUT the spoon. Some days you wear the food. Some days he makes a ginormous mess and needs an immediate bath and an outfit change.

What are the lessons of solid foods, you ask? Not to sweat so much over messes or clothes getting stains on them. It happens, a lot. Be a little less serious and find the fun in things that previously would have made you upset. The end. :)