There is something to be said about over-thinking stuff… 😉

As is wont to happen when starting solids, Levi’s had a bit of trouble moving things along, as evidenced by the streak and occasional solid pellet bit in his diaper, and the shrieks and wails coming from his as he pushed them out. So I decided to buy some baby prunes and give him a bit of help. Of course, I buy pureed prunes (Stage 1 is the only stage that has prunes only, not a mixture at least at Kroger), and promptly came home to feed him. Results:

Ikes!!! I was amazed at how time consuming, MESSY (I got it in his nose – thank God for Qtips!!!), and annoying it was. It also struck me at how passive an activity it is for a baby, and since my baby is anything but inactive and passive, well, there was a constant struggle over who got to hold the spoon, which end went in, and the result was prunes everywhere. Giving him his “own” spoon to play with only made matters worse, since he wouldn’t allow me to put my spoon in his mouth and was uber-concentrated on dipping his spoon into the prunes. However, I did manage to get enough in him to help things move along.

I’m not saying, however, that BLW is not messy. It surely is, though depending on what you give it can be much less messy. Think broccoli pictured below versus pureed broccoli… The difference is when the mess is made, I don’t get messy with him! Spoon feeding can’t be done while I’m enjoying my own dinner. And I can’t enjoy my own dinner with a tyke on my lap who is reaching for all my food, or crying because he can’t join us at the table. With BLW, I plop him in his seat at the table, we eat our dinner, he eats his (which is generally part of what we are having), and everyone is happy. No power struggles over the spoon. And Levi gets the additional bonus of fine-tuning and using his fine motor skills. 🙂 Needless to say, in our next forray into the land of prunes, we will be purchasing grown prunes for him to mash and play with.

The moral: If I had any questions about whether or not BLW is the right way for us, I no longer have them. Levi likes BLW better, I like BLW better, and we all get to eat together at the table! BTW, I made daddy feed them to him yesterday, and well, he finally whole-heartedly agrees with BLW now. 😉

And BTW, Nici, LOVING the Bumbo!!! 🙂 Thank you – it will return to you with the nifty tray pictured.

Just for fun, some pics of Levi helping make his present for Grandma Judy’s birthday:

<– Mr. Independence "I can feed myself, thank you very much!!!"