Good for the Gosling, Good for the Goose

Kiernan feeds us now.

A couple posts back I did a rundown of what kinds of food he's eating now, telling about how we introduced Kiernan to solid foods and how well he's taken to them. Since that time we have tried a few other things that he is not so crazy about. Yet. We tried a bunch of steamed vegetables. He likes to arrange them on his table and plate, and tear apart the brocolli, but that's about it so far. We also tried some avocado. Wendy had heard from a couple other moms that their kids loved avocado. Not so with our little guy. Kiernan puts it in his mouth and it immediately comes back out. He does enjoy squeezing the bits of avocado in his little fists though, so there's that.

We will keep trying and I'll keep you posted. Experts say a kid may have to try a new food ten or fifteen times before he learns to like it. I was convinced those "experts" work for the baby food companies, so I was leery of this advice. I still went along with it, but I was leery. Then this week the American Academy of Pediatrics came out with a bunch of new recommendations for parents, stuff about avoiding SIDS and giving kids pacifiers at night and what-not. In that announcement was this same advice about introducing new foods to babies. So I'm downgrading my "leery" attitude to "suspicious" and going from there. At least until Kiernan shows an interest in actually eating the brocolli and avocado.

And, most importantly, the pasta.

Yep, you read that right. The kid won't eat pasta. This is bad. My grandfather is Italian. My mom is very proud of this. So am I. My son not liking pasta is not an option. Not only is it a cultural imperative that he eat and love Italian food, but as the cook I demand the right to cook pasta on a regular basis. It's too easy a food to prepare--and too enjoyable to eat--not to have it in my arsenal. Also, I refuse to spend the next eighteen years not being able to placate my little boy--and, let's face it, myself--with macaroni-n-cheese.

Kiernan really, really likes bread though. Cantaloupe too. The other day Wendy was feeding him and I dropped a bunch of chunks of cantaloupe on his feeding table. He went right to work on it, munching away happily. After awhile he looked at Wendy thoughtfully, then held out a piece of the cantaloupe for her. She leaned forward, opened her mouth, and he popped it in for her to eat. He found this quite amusing and gave her another couple of pieces, doing this funny little squinty smile all the while. We found it just adorable.

The next day he was working on some pieces of bread and he did the same thing with me, only instead of a nice fat chunk of fresh cantaloupe, for me he held out a soggy piece of half-gummed bread. Nice. Well of course I couldn't refuse. I'm trying to get him to accept all this new food from me. It wouldn't do for me to reject the only piece of food he had ever offered me. So, I ate the soggy piece of bread. And he was delighted.

The only remaining question for Wendy, then, is how many Weight Watchers points you have to assign to the bits of food your baby feeds you. I think you get a pass on food your baby feeds you, personally, which is probably why Wendy is suggesting we introduce ice cream next.

I, for one, am all for it.