A Solid Meal

Last night, Jude hit the big-time.

My baby had his first meal that didn’t involve any sort of pureed food substance. He ate steamed broccoli stem (I peel it and cut it into medallions, steam it soft, and cube it in tiny pieces – he loves it); shredded cheddar cheese, salmon, and a little bit of roasted turkey cold cuts.

He was in little baby hog-heaven.

For a while now, maybe a few weeks, Jude has been more and more insistently using his “all done” sign while we try to shovel his formerly beloved baby food purees into his little mouth. He’ll indulge us for a few bites but where he used to eat at *least* a pouch or jar of food (or the equivilent) at each feeding, and usually two, he now would sign “all done” and start to get super testy about ½ way through the first pack.

So we upped his finger food ratio in each meal, and hoped that would appease him. Soon, however, we started getting his daycare reports back each day with notes that he was barely eating any of his purees. And so, here we are, caught in that awkward in-between phase of baby-feeding.

He’s less interested in bottles, but he wants to comfort nurse forever and ever amen all night long.

He’s turning his little button nose up at purees and dedicated baby food, but is still too young for a lot of what we eat on our family table (i.e. wheat, whole egg, acidic foods) and because of his eczema, I don’t want to push it.

Gone are the days when we quickly pack his bag in the mornings, just labeling pouches and tossing them in. Now we must prepare and cut EVERYDAMNTHING into tiny mushy little pieces and put them in containers, clearly labeled and appropriately sized.

Yet, we are not yet able to pack his and Gus’ lunches identically to take advantage of economies of scale.

Yes, this is the doldrums of not-quite-toddler eating. Already, Masa and I are mourning the loss of the ease of packing the diaper bag and finding food on the go. Of a ginormous mess only under *one* of the chairs around our table.

But he really is cute when he eats his food. And oh my god he inHALED the crap out of some salmon last night. He was even picking through the other stuff on his tray to find the remnant tiny pieces of pink under the shredded cheese. Hilarious. When he finally signed “all done” he had seriously packed it away, and if I hadn’t been convinced this is what he needed before, that did it.

These last few months of the first year are amazing. They hit milestones weekly. Sometimes daily! I see the scales tipping from baby over to toddler with each passing minute. It makes me happy and proud. But, you know, there’s that other thing too.

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