The First Supper

It's Holy Week and the celebration of the Last Supper is only 2 days away. It seems like a good time to talk about eating. Add to that the fact that I am struggling for blog fodder today and you get this wonderfully insightful post. I dug deep into the archives of my home videos and found a clip to share. The clip shows the very first time Braden tasted the gooey goodness of baby food. That is what I call it even though I think the technical term is "solids". The genius that came up with this term obviously has a different interpretation of the various states of matter than I do.





This feeding was about a month ago. You will remember how excited I was to move on to solid food in this earlier post. The food in question in the video was green beans. Braden has moved on to peas, squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes now. At first we were feeding him twice a day. For whatever reason this interrupted his sleeping patterns. As all new parents know this is the worst thing that can happen. You work so hard to get them into a regular sleeping routine that also allows you enough sleep to sustain life. Any backpedaling in this area is an absolute nightmare. Arica figured out that Braden slept better the few times we only fed him once a day. That was enough to permanently change the plan. So we are comfortably settled into a once a day vegetable sludge feeding. Everyone seems happy especially since proper sleep has been restored.

Baby Shots Round Two

This morning was Braden's 4 month doctor visit. At his last visit he received his first round of shots. While I wrote here that the shots were not so bad last time, Braden seemed to be much more anti shots today. He clearly voiced his displeasure when the nurse plunged her needle into his chubby little thigh. It's hard to watch them cry from pain, but it has to be done. The painful crying doesn't last long before it turns into an I am mad scream. The I am mad scream can be gently calmed by a loving mother. It is at times like these that a baby just wants mommy. After getting dressed and put back in his car seat all was well again in little Braden's world.

The bigger news is that Braden has been cleared for green veggies. That is the doctor's term not mine. I would be more inclined to call it jars of green goo. Some of the jars I have seen remind me of the Veggie Boy drink that Woody once hocked on Cheers. It was a supposedly nutritious green slime that Woody advertised but hated. Frasier then hypnotized him into liking the drink which subsequently went out of business. Woody now a crazed Veggie Boy fan plans to grow kale so he can make his own green drink. You can be certain that no matter how much Braden likes his new Veggie Boy slime we will not be planting a garden and buying an industrial size food processor. I fully expect to have further stories to share on this topic after we take a test run.

The doctors tell you that it is of the utmost importance for your children to get proper nutrition during their early years. Our pediatrician said that a child grows about half of his total height by the time he is 2 years old. This is why proper nutrition for babies is so important. As I watch my new favorite show, Mark and Olly, I can see what the lack of proper nutrition can do to a person. The Machigenga men are about 5 feet tall. While they are certainly on breast milk at first their nutrition following that must not be too great. Apparently eating monkeys and bugs does not a tall Machigenga make. Knowing what is at stake Arica and I will forge ahead with feeding our little man spoonful after spoonful of the gooey goodness that will now makeup a vital part of his diet.