MMMM... Pears and Sweet Potatoes

Getting Jude started on solids has been no real easy task. He just doesn't seem into them - which I'm fine with. I started with chunky purees of squash which he basically smeared around on his tray like finger paint.

Then we moved on to things like rice (whole rice, cooked very well) which he seemed to hate - or at least cared very little to eat. I tried mixing it with some of his veggies, but nothing really worked.

Then we did some sugar snap peas - whole peas in their pods cooked to be soft. He kinda got into it. He liked to basically pick them up and suck on them. Carrots we served pretty much pureed and he put down some of it, but not much. Everything to this point has been served on Jude's highchair tray for him to touch, lick, taste and explore on his own. Towards the end of most of his feedings, I'll sit down in front of him (usually I let him play with it while I'm doing dishes, etc so that I'm not rushing him) and scoop some up on a little spoon or my finger and encourage him to put them in his mouth. Most of the time he fights me on it (blocking his mouth with his tongue, etc) so I stop, but every now and then he'll consume a little. Sometimes if it's something I'm serving whole, I'll eat some off of his tray so he makes the connection.

Since he wasn't very receptive to many of his seasonal veggies...

Oh! maybe I should add that Ryan has this thing with 'food miles'. We watched this show on the History Channel or something where they discussed food miles and how much energy and money and everything else is put into moving fruits and veggies from one area to another when it's out of season and how the fruit loses so much nutrition on it's way. So, ever since then he gets (dare I say?) annoyed when I come home in the winter with strawberries. I still do it, but Ryan really liked to stick with the seasons.. Of course this is hard, but we do our best.



... I decided to start with some of the fruits I had frozen for him a little while back. We had picked local apples and I had a few pears that needed to be eaten, so I froze some for Jude. So I started with pears. In the past while eating one myself I would put it up to Jude's mouth and let him suck on it. He LOVED it. It was one of the few times he got upset when I'd taken something away from him. If he had teeth, he probably could have bitten a chunk off, but he didn't so he just sucked on it. When I put the mushed pears on his try and put a little to his mouth, you could tell he was excited! He swirled his hand around in it, sucked on his fingers, tried to pick up some of the pieces and just all around seemed to be enjoying it. It made me so happy that he was finally actually ingesting some of it instead of me throwing it all away.

Then the other day I tried sweet potatoes. I had a feeling he'd really like them, so I boiled them really well until they were soft and cut them into about 1" cubes. I then sprinkled just a little bit of cinnamon on top (apparently about 8 months is the appropriate time for herbs and spices - I obviously did it a little early... I eat a lot of cinnamon, so I had a feeling he'd love it). I was right. he LOVED it! It was one of the few times he didn't fight me when I put some to his mouth and he actually grabbed the cubes and sucked and mushed them in his gums on his own.

I'm sure there's still a whole world of food out there that he'll love, but it's great to see the beginnings of it.

Question: Recommend fruits and veggies that your kids love? No kids? Recommend stuff that you love...