Gametes In Love

S2 had his first taste of non-milk this week-end. Yes, I caved. No, I didn’t want to, but he kind of pushed my hand.

He’s already been staring intently at us eating. He grabbed my plate twice in the previous weeks and pulled it towards himself, dipping his hand in various cuisines. If he had more control over his hands, I know he’s be redirecting my silverware away from my mouth and into his. Last week I even decided to split the difference, and sat him in the high-chair, and fed him some breast milk out of a spoon. My hungry little camper was excited to no end. He opened his mouth for that spoon as if he’d been doing it all along. Of course he was pretty disappointed with the contents though: he gave me this saying “Why’s this a big deal? My other way of taking in this stuff is far more efficient, and fun” So yes, there have been signs of solid food readiness.

THEN, last week I got a request to start adding more milk to his bottles. Mr. Chunks apparently has been sorely disappointed by the insufficient 20oz of milk he’s been consuming between the hours of 7am and 6pm. He has been busting out some crocodile tears when his bottle is done, and would like more milk. While “yes” I likely could work to make that happen, it wouldn’t be without some added stress on my end. I could go back to pumping at 2am every morning, start taking Dom again, use my emergency stash for the extra, or just go for a bottle of formula each day at daycare. None of these options appealed to me, and I had to ask myself if they appealed to me any more than starting solids.

So, after some soul searching, and much grumbling, I conceded. I went to my local grocery store, bought 4 over-priced Earth’s Best Organic Sweet Potato stage 1, and went in for “the test”.

S2 didn’t really go for it. He didn’t care to open his mouth at the spoon like he’d done the week before. He didn’t really know what to do with his tongue as much. I was pleased. I thought to myself “Maybe he wasn’t really ready. Maybe this is my chance to pull back and wait another few weeks”… but then the reasonable part of me remembered that try #1 wasn’t exactly under the best of circumstances. 1) he was tired, as I was pushing up right before his nap-time; 2) we were rushed for time, since we had a long list of things to do afterward. So, I tried again on Sunday, and he did fine. Dang it! I decided to have Ms. J try again today, and do best 2-out-of-3.

The result? Food wins. So I guess I loose. We’re now into solids.

I don’t really know how to excuse my reluctance. A part of it is driven by reading that the closer baby starts taking solids to 6 months, the better. So I’m thinking 5 months, minus 3 weeks for him being born early is more like starting at a 4 months, which is definitely NOT something I wanted to do. However, I think at the end of the day it just comes down to him growing up. With G I was so excited for him to get to the next milestone. Now w/ S2 I’m the opposite: I don’t want my little duder to be growing up so fast. But clearly he’s not the patient type so I need put on my big girl panties and deal.

Meanwhile, in a “if you can’t beat them, joint them” effort, here are some photos (and video) of S2’s new chapter in growing up.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYm9I8QEkmI]

P.S. The sultry stylings of my voice is courtesy of a new cold I was lucky enough to acquire last week. Time for me to start up that 1-900 business, huh?

This entry was posted on Monday, April 11th, 2011 at 9:58 pm and is filed under Raising Baby. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.