For the last week or so O has been enjoying the colorful, textural experience of pureed orange vegetables twice a day. He has some at lunch, and he has some at dinner.
So far he has enjoyed most of the food set before him: carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, and apple sauce have all been popular. Bananas have not gone over well, so we’ll try them again later. Rice paste was also fairly unpopular and left him looking like he had a skin condition when it crusted and flaked off.
We have worked out a system with the spoon. I carefully load a little bit on to it and offer it to O. If he is interested he makes a grab for it and together we guide it to his mouth. At least that’s the theory… in practice he grabs for it, sometimes it goes flying, sometimes just the puree goes flying, sometimes he gets my hand instead, and sometimes it actually (mostly) gets into his mouth.
He likes to grab and chew on the spoon, it’s a “safety spoon” (rubberized tip) so I let him gum away – it gives me a chance to have a bite or two of whatever it is I’m eating. He likes the other end of it too, and dislikes when I intervene (I am disinclined to wrestle the spoon from the content puree covered baby unless I absolutely have to).
The spoon is fascinating, as is the puree that gets smeared all over the tray. If the spoon isn’t readily available with food on it, O will smack the tray, sending the puree splattering. He also drops the spoon under the table, I think this is mostly accidental, he gets distracted, turns to look, lets go of the spoon, and the spoon goes over the side.
A little vegetable puree goes a long way.