Food!

I've been meaning to write this post for a LONG time.  I chose a weekend day a while back and took pictures of Abigail's three meals of the day, proudly displaying how she ate every single thing in the bowl, except for the last bite--she has an amazing knack for knowing when I have just scraped the very last bits of food off the bowl so that she can refuse them.  I actually find it quite funny.  But back to my story, I took all the pictures and they sat on the camera for a few days.  Suddenly my little super eater became more sporadic, eating nothing at breakfast and huge amounts at lunch or dinner (but not both).  I hate wasting food, but there's just no way to know how much she'll eat and if the gap between open mouth and insert food is too long, sometimes she will change her mind.  So I'm usually armed with what I believe is a large meal for her, of course she doesn't always eat it all.  I've taken to using a combination of homemade and store bought organic foods.  I'm really appreciating the convenience and cost effectiveness of making my own food.  When she was only eating half a jar of food at a time, I would try to make her a meal and waste most of it, but now she's ready for bigger portions and I know better how to make things that she will like.  Recently we are pretty much back on track, though I understand I will need to be flexible on this point.  Sometimes she will eat a lot and other times she just won't.

Carrots, zucchini, brown rice and breast milk

She loves anything with carrots in it!

Last bite #1

Yogurt, prunes, banana, oatmeal

Prunes are her favorite fruit and make any meal go down more easily.

Last bite #2

Broccoli, spinach, squash, multi-grain cereal, breast milk

Squash is the staple item in this combo--she loves squash.

Last bite #3

The cutest yogurt mustache ever (on a different day)

She's currently eating three meals and nursing four times (6 am, 11 am, 3 pm, 7 pm) a day.  I guess that's where these cheeks are coming from!  The two things I've found so far that she WILL NOT eat are avocados (sigh) and egg yolks.  I've tried avocados many, many times.  I can't mix them with anything to fool her.  Both will make future appearances in her diet, if she allows, but for now we're doing pretty well with what we have, introducing 2 new things a week (when I'm on top of it), and mastering the art of eating cheerios.  She's great with her pincher fingers and loves to pick them up and pop them in.  I'll start giving her other finger foods at 8 months, I think.  I can't believe that's next week.  

Sending love to you all!