Flirting with Solids

Ha ha, look at his face! (click for larger view)

Daddy gives it a try...

What a train wreck :)

Jude is only 4.5 months old, but we decided to try a little brown rice cereal on him recently. They say you can start them anywhere from four to six months. I was hoping to wait until six, but he has been acting extra hungry lately and shows extreme interest in whatever I am eating. I have to be careful to hold my food or drink away from him or he'll try to swipe it. Plus he is still waking every three hours or so all night, and he's hungry. All signs he might be "ready". I asked my doctor about it and she gave the go-ahead, so we tried it.

We mixed a tiny amount of cereal with some breastmilk, stuck Jude in his little seat, turned on the video camera and had at it. Not much of it actually made it down his throat, and most of it formed a small lake around his neck in a bib fold. He made funny faces, was distracted by the camera, and eventually started fussing. But it was good practice. He needed a bath afterwards because some of it got in his neck rolls and the tiny mullet he's been growing since birth.

It's been a couple of days since then and I've noticed the little man has been having some trouble "eliminating" his rice-cereal. Since he's still so young I've decided to put it off a while longer until I can be sure it's just the normal constipation involved in transitioning to solid foods, and not that his digestive system is too immature for it. Maybe we will make it to six months after all.

Other than some uncomfortable moments when he couldn't get things moving in the poo area, he's been so happy and interactive lately. I love being around him, and I miss him more now after I put him down for the night. His new thing is to reach for my face when I'm holding him and plant his little palm on my chin, mouth, or anywhere else he can reach. He stares at me while he's doing it with a cute smirk on his face. I laid him on the rug for awhile a few days ago and put my face close to his. He reached up with both hands and put them, palms open, on my cheeks. Then he giggled because he liked my face so close. I was eating it up.

He's also really into making a "razzing" noise with the spit in the back of his throat, and he loves it when I make the same noise back. The other day we were razzing at each other back and forth in rhythm for a minute or two. It was the first time we both contributed equally to the conversation :)

So there's your Jude update for the week. I hope everyone's excited about Friday, because you are not going to believe the hat he'll be wearing.