Books and Cheerios

Scott is out inspecting on Friday night.  He has to do a few little league ball diamond concession stands, and guess when they have games?  At least the weather is nice.  Laurel and I went out and sat on the front porch for a while and read books.  Then we came in and she continued to read books.  She has figured out how to sit on the bench on her toy, and just sits there reading a book, and pushing the buttons so she has music.  All grown up!

 And speaking of growing up,  you may know that feeding our daughter has been a challenge.  She nursed for a full year, and only stopped because I was out of town for a few days.  She never really enjoyed baby food, and rarely ate it voluntarily.  She would always spit out the tiny chunks of noodles or whatever.  She would not eat anything solid, and would never pick up a piece of food with her fingers and put it into her mouth!

At one year old, we started giving her dairy.  That was when she discovered yogurt...and now has a favorite food!  She eats yogurt 4-5 times a day!  She would eat nothing else, if we let her!  Her food input is now yogurt, applesauce, carrots or sweet potato baby food if I mix it with applesauce, canned fruit (pears, peaches, mandarin oranges), instant oatmeal, graham crackers, and bananas.  I've been working in additional things--I made quinoa and mixed it in with her oatmeal, and I make her try a few bites of other food, like avocado, beans, toast, mashed potatoes...when I feed her those, she sits there and whines and cries the whole time, like I'm torturing her.  She has learned to feed herself--with a spoon!  She rarely picks up food with her fingers, but does really well eating with a spoon.

The last couple days I've been forcing a few honey nut cheerios into her mouth.  She hasn't voluntarily opened her mouth for them, but she did chew and swallow the one I put in before starting to whine.  This evening while we were on the front porch reading books, I had a pleasant surprise.  She ate cheerios!  She opened her mouth for me to put one in!  And then when I handed her a cheerio, she put it into her own mouth!  Amazing!  I hope we are turning over a new leaf in eating!