Do as I do

My little boy Z is in his seventh month now, and I've been offering him solids for about a month and a half. It has been very much trial and error. I truly feel as a parent, that although over all I am confident in my abilities to keep my child alive, well loved and well cared for, I am constantly teetering on the brink of I-have-absolutely-no-CLUE-what-I'm-doing!! I guess parenting is its own type of humility (boy, isn't that a load of perspective!)

Being the first month or so of solids, we've had out digestive issues. His initial favorites were rice cereal and bananas, which are both binders (I'll let you figure that one out). Now, he seems to enjoy mangos, which is great as they are in season. Ideally, I would like to offer him a variety of fruits, vegetables, and other whole foods, but I feel I am always confronted by indecision... what should I offer him next? I'm also the type of person who has my likes and tends to stick to them... not the best when you're trying to offer a variety.

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I titled this blog "do as I do" because no matter what I seem to offer Z, he is always the most interested in what I am eating and what I am drinking. Take today, for instance. After a morning feed, I offered him barley cereal mixed with some prune yogurt and a little bit of water to thin it out. I ate my breakfast while offering him his food (that seems to work best). He ate some of it, but the whole time I could tell what he really wanted was my toast and my tea! Okay, I'll confess, I let him have some chasers of my tea! I can't resist that cute super-proud-of-himself look when he has a sip from an adult cup! For lunch, I had some roasted red pepper black bean soup. You can bet he was going crazy, making the motions like he wanted some. I decided to offer him some, and his reaction (which I've seen before in response to yogurt) was hilarious. He puckered his face, squinting one eye and his body gave a little shutter. Obviously the flavor was a surprise to him, but he kept wanting more!

I believe this is a form of Baby Led Weaning, though if I were a true purist, I think I would hand him the soup and a spoon and let him go to town. All I know is, if we're going to continue this way, I had better make sure I eat well all the time. I've got someone little watching me now.