Solids

Jimi sits on my lap during meals and shows interest in what we are doing. He even leans forward, or reaches for my fork from time to time. All the while he has been at the table, wondering where his is. His Dr. says no food until 4 mos., so I have been waiting about two weeks to do the infamous first bites.

Well he turned 16 weeks on Friday, and although he won't be "4 mos" until the 13th of Nov., IMO 16 weeks is four, four-week spans, in other words, 4 mos.

So, we outfitted him with my favorite bib of his which reads, "If you think I'm handsome you should see my Daddy!"; put him on Daddy's lap; made a small amount of rice cereal; and began the festivities. If you have a guest pass (you most likely do if you are a friend/family), you can view pix of the occassion on Flickr.

I didn't know what he would make of it, so I only made one small scoop of cereal, and mixed it with his formula. The first bite was more of an introduction. Jimi, this is cereal. Cereal, this is Jimi. THEN what happened surprised us all....Jimi LIKED his new friend, cereal. I knew he was ready, I just didn't realize how ready he was. He looked at us as if to say, "where has this been all of my life?"

His first bites consisted of figuring out how to use his tongue. Once he got that down, how does he open his mouth? By the end of the feeding we were both pros, with my wiping-the-cereal-running-down-the-face-with-the-spoon move well practiced!

He ate the entrire scoop's worth of cereal, and only stopped because there was no more to have. He then topped off his meal with the remainder of his 6 oz of formula and fell FAST asleep.

I was so proud of my baby! Daddy was proud, too. The gift of life continually amazes me, as I never could have anticipated experiencing such joy watching a person eat.