Baby Food

We don't have baby food in our house. I don't make my own baby food, either. Charlotte eats what we eat, and has since she started eating solids at about 6 or 7 months. Of course she eats things that are soft and mashable (avocado and banana to start with, as you can see in most of the pictures of her eating!) but we basically put chunks or slices of food on her tray and let her go to it. The theory behind this is that, if you wait until a baby shows all the signs of being ready for solids, and is able to feed him or herself solid foods, you shouldn't need to start with mashed up food or purees. You skip the feeding-them-with-a-spoon stage, they control their own intake, and you never have to transition away from purees. Plus, the food tastes like what you eat as a family because it IS the food you eat as a family. I've tasted baby food before. Let's just say that it might say "green beans" on the jar, but I'd never know that if I couldn't read :P

But on the way to TN, Charlotte screamed. The.Entire.Time. At one point, I broke down, made Michael find a Wal-Mart, and went in to stock up on the pureed food in a jar that most babies know and love. I thought that maybe, just maybe she was hungry. Nevermind that I had nursed her more on the 12-hour-trip-that-should-have-taken-8-hours than I had ever nursed her before. But of course she wouldn't eat it. I've been so concerned that she feed herself and control her own food intake that she will NOT let me feed her. And a 10 month old (who isn't great with a spoon) feeding herself baby food (which she's never had) in a moving vehicle? Not happening. The spoon kept her occupied for about 15 minutes, though.

We gave her the food at the hotel over the past couple of days.

At first she was confused by the container.

Then she had to figure out the spoon.

And then she wasn't so sure about the texture.

But once she figured the whole thing out she was pretty happy with it.

And I have to say, I don't know if it's the brand of food, or the fact that it was bananas, but it didn't actually taste half bad ~ Charlotte agreed (and required a bath after her meal...though that is nothing new! :)).

Unrelated, these are Maya's babies. She carries them around pretty much everywhere, and takes wonderful care of them. She set them up on the bed like this, and made sure that they all had part of the blanket for naptime.

In case you were curious, from left to right (all named by Maya, of course), you have:

My Puppy Janer, Isabella, Baby Isaac, Princess, Baby Isaac, The Easter Bunny, and The Easter Bunny's Friend.

No, there are no typos ~ she has two babies named "Baby Isaac". In real life, baby Isaac is Isabella's younger brother (and in real life, Isabella is a person and not a monkey :)). Isaac and Isabella's mom is Sierra, which is the alternate name for "The Easter Bunny's Friend". And "My Puppy Janer" is not a puppy. Apparently you have to use your imagination to figure that one out :P