Best Advice Yet?

The switch from bottle to sippy cup has been super stressful. To say the least. And incredibly unsuccessful. So much so that we entertained the idea of just going back to the bottle for the time being. My problem with that being that we've already started and going back to the bottle would just be giving Grant what he wants. Most babies are spoiled, but I'd rather not have mine be a spoiled brat because he always gets what he wants.

Grant will not take formula from a sippy cup. Absolutely refuses it. Screams when you put it in front of him. But give it to him in a bottle and it's gone before you know it. And IF you can get him to take even a sip of formula from the sippy, he will gag and then open his mouth so the liquid dribbles out. But he will take the water/juice mixture we give him. So weird. However, we've quickly learned - as I'm sure so many parents do - that our child is definitely aware that we are trying to pull a fast one. And he's trying to let us know he's on to us.

The new day care has been a huge help to us and it's such a relief to not hate the place where we leave Grant every day. They've gone a long way with helping us work real food into Grant's diet and now, bless them, they're helping us with the sippy cup. We had no idea where or how to start. One lady, Ms. Rutha, told us to bring two sippy cups with formula and one bottle. She said they would offer him the sippy and if he didn't take it - he just didn't get the formula. By day two, she said, "he gonna take that sippy". Yesterday was day 6 and he was having nothing to do with the sippy. I was starting to get very worried. I don't worry often, but when I do, I want a solution. Grant had gone from about 28 ounces of formula per day to less than 7 ounces. I was to a point where I didn't know what to do. I called the pediatrician and they told me that as long as he was getting calcium elsewhere then he "should be fine". But I was not ok with that answer.

Husband mentioned the problem to Ms. Rutha. She said she'd seen that problem a lot. She suggested maybe putting some chocolate syrup in the formula. I thought: GENIUS! But instead, I went with:

Strawberry Nesquik. I figured it had extra calcium and what-not in it. I had absolutely zero hope that it would work. After a doctor's appointment for an ear infection yesterday we went home and I made a sippy with 4 ounces of formula and a 1/2 tablespoon of the strawberry nesquik. Nothing. So I let Grant watch me open the cup and I gave him a spoonful of the formula. He took it and cried. Another spoonful. He took it and cried. He watched me put the top back on the cup then I gave it to him with a graham cracker and went about my dinner preparations. I looked back a minute later and he was chugging the formula! His head was tipped back and he was devouring it! I was so relieved I cried. It's stressful wondering if your baby isn't getting all the nutrition he needs. Thank you Ms. Rutha! I need to bake her something. Hopefully - I'm keeping my fingers crossed - it goes just as well at day care today.  

Update: While Grant didn't drink all his formula at daycare today, he did make a good dent in it. And even drank some this evening at home before and during dinner. So it looks like the strawberry Nesquik is working it's delicious magic and is helping us out for now. I do know that this is just one more thing we'll have to break him of in the future but the pros out-weigh the cons.

Eleven Months

On Tuesday, Grant was eleven months old. Eleven. Months. Where has this year gone? I have said before that I'm excited for Grant's 1st birthday - and I still am - but every day he seems so much less like a baby that it makes me sad.

Eleven Months Old

We are working on getting him off the bottle, although the bedtime bottle is still what gets him to sleep. And "real" food is going better. This child can pack away a banana like nobody's business. We've agreed to let him eat food from the day care menu for breakfast, lunch, and snack time (providing I approve - on days when they have sausage biscuits and such I haven't agreed to that yet). So now, most days, instead of pureed baby foods he's eating things like cinnamon toast for breakfast or mac & cheese w/ broccoli for lunch. And snack time has introduced him to all kinds of things (Cheezits being among the popular items).

He always wants to stand or run around. There
is no more being still for this little guy.

Walking is how he gets around now, he rarely ever crawls anymore. He's quite sure of himself on his feet and even running is getting a little better. I'm not saying he never falls. He definitely does. But it's not as traumatic as it was a few weeks ago.

This last month brought about our latest ER visit but Grant seems to have completely recovered from his butt cheek infection. He does have a little scar but it's really tiny. And I'm just glad that everything healed for him the first time and no other procedure was necessary.

We've had some not too in depth conversations about trying to break Grant of the pacifier. But I have to say, I'm really reluctant. He's not as dependant on it as he could be but when it's needed it's a savior. (Anybody out there ever get "advice" about the paci? The people that tell you that "you really should think about breaking him of that". Or the ones who get that look on their face and say "You use a pacifier?" People are so judgemental about the paci! But they aren't the ones who have to deal with my screaming kid. )

Anyway, Grant is waving bye-bye more often and even sometimes sounds like he's trying to say bye-bye. Although, sometimes he sounds like he's trying to say Brodie's name too. It's hard to tell. But he's definitely still doing "Mama" and "Dada" and I love to hear him say those :) And at daycare, in addition to helping with the bye-bye, they're also trying to teach him to high five. He practices with Daddy too:

He'll have it down before too long.

It's so hard to believe that this year has gone by as quickly as it has. And I know that this next month is going to go by the quickest because there is so much going on. I'm going to miss him being a baby so much (although he does sometimes still act very much like a baby) but I'm also looking forward to what's coming. Grant gets more and more fun every day. It's exciting to think about all the things we'll be able to do with him soon.

Spinach & Cheese Ravioli

New recipe? Nope. Baby food. Although some spinach & cheese ravioli sounds pretty damn good. I've had a hard time introducing new finger foods to Grant. I figured once we got over the hump that was the cereal puffs everything else would be easy. Wrong. Silly Mama. What has ever been easy when it comes to feeding this child? He'll eat some carrots, but not green beans. Fruit? No ma'am. In it goes and out it comes. If I want the fruit to stay in his mouth I have to hold my finger against his lips and he'll reluctantly chew. He'll eat the pureed version but not the pieces. So, when I was in the grocery store Thursday after work I swung through the baby aisle. I have a baby food problem. Since Grant has started "solids" I don't think I've left a store that sells baby food without buying some. This time I saw the ravioli. It said it's for a toddler but really that's just a guideline right? The ravioli is smaller than the kind I would buy for me and Husband and it seems mushier too. I had less than no hope that Grant would eat it willingly so I only bought one package of it. Well guess what? Miracles do happen folks. He loved it.

First he squished it in his hands. A guy's gotta check things out, yes?

After proper squishing it did actually end up in his mouth.

And then, much to my surprise, more of it went in his mouth.

Before I knew it he was happy about his ravioli!

Then the biggest shock of the meal came when the ravioli was almost gone. Brodie came to check things out. Brodie never comes to check things out when Grant is involved. Because Brodie is still waiting for us to bring him back where ever he came from (I, for one, am rather glad he's not going back there). Upon seeing Brodie, Grant leaned forward and started saying "Babababab! Ba ba ba ba!" Which leads me to believe he's trying to say Brodie's name. Then Grant hung his hand in the air to touch Brodie and I waited for him to run away. He didn't.

He actually licked the ravioli off his hand!

And Grant quickly realized that if he threw ravioli on the floor
Brodie would stick around for clean up duty.

Always the easiest way to clean up! (I promise the tray was washed
very well before we let Grant use it again. I'm not that bad!)

Hmmm...they might just become friends after all.

First "Self Feeding"

Do all mothers assume that their child will be quick learners? I know I do, I admit it. I figured I would put the little cereal puffs in front of Grant and he would know to pick them up and put them in his mouth. Well, last weekend we tried it. The had doctor said we shouldn't help him. "He has to do it on his own. That's why it's called self feeding". Umm...yeah. He doesn't like self feeding. All he did was push the little bits around on the tray until I decided to put one in his mouth. I learned that he will open his mouth for me to put anything in there. He totally trusts me to put something yummy in his mouth. He was sorely disappointed. He gagged immediately. And then spit it out. At that point it was mushy like his normal food so I shoved it back in there. More gagging. Then a total melt down. Good times.

Checking things out

 

Hmmmm...



Just what do you expect me to do with those?

In it goes (I put it there)

 

Oh yuck Mama



Melt down.

 It is obviously a texture thing. And it has gone pretty much exactly like this every time I've tried to give them to him. I tried other flavors. I tried those freeze dried yogurt thingies. I know it's only been a week and he's got to figure it out eventually. I didn't think he'd figure out the sippy cup and he's doing great with that. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

P.S. They crunchy cereal thingies and the freeze dried yogurt thingies are pretty yummy.

Macaroni & Cheese

I have a baby food obsession. Every time I go to Target or any grocery store I have to go to the baby food section. It's like a mission to seek out baby food that I perhaps missed on my previous trip. A trip to Target over the weekend, merely to exchange some shoes for Grant, led to the discovery of...wait for it...macaroni & cheese baby food! Who knew? I debated a little before finally putting it in the cart.

As with all of Grant's new foods, I tasted it. I was pretty excited to taste this one. Hello! It's mac & cheese! It looks like cheese sauce. There is something slightly unsettling about feeding your child something that looks it should be poured over tortilla chips. But after tasting it...well, I'm going to hold off on the nachos. It's pretty bland (how did I not expect that?). So my first thought was that Grant would hate it. But then again, he's never had good mac & cheese before...so maybe not.



First bite...

 

I don't think he's too sure about it.



But he went back for more.



He seemed to like it...maybe?

I think I have mentioned before that we're trying to teach Grant what "No" means. I read somewhere that now is a good time to start working on that. So when he does something that he shouldn't we tell him "No" and try to be firm. For instance, when he eats he likes to try to grab the bowl I'm feeding him from. In this case, he tried to grab the mac & cheese jar. So I said "No" and moved his hand from the jar. This happened several times and so I tried to be more firm. Well, he knows what it means because every once in a while he'll move his hand as soon as I say it...
 

And sometimes he just makes me feel like the worst person ever.



Solid Food: Week 4

Just a few short weeks ago I was throwing baby spoons across the kitchen and declaring that Grant would never eat anything other than formula. And here we are on our second vegetable: carrots!



Since I tasted the beans, I decided to taste the carrots. Not bad!

I gave Husband the choice: carrots, squash, or sweet potatoes? He chose carrots and pointed out that Grant is likely to like the sweet potatoes best so we should probably try those last. The carrots were a hit! As with the beans, he was unsure with the first bite but quickly asked for more. His veggies are making him so big and strong!




Ummm...what is this?

 

Oooh...I think I like it.




More, more!

 

He insists on grabbing the spoon. So I let him. Then he shoves it down his throat
and gags on it. And then it ends up all over his little face.




Ha!




Carrots, carrots everywhere!




How cute is he?


Grant seems to have picked up yet another cold from daycare. So, even with that giant smile on his handsome face, he wasn't in a very good mood last night. He was quite fussy after he ate. He usually acts like that when he's tired. And guess what? I was right.

He passed right out. You can't keep this kid on his back anymore. He rolls right over...
which makes his daddy very nervous at night.



Solid Food: Week 3

Dinner got an upgrade! The doc said that once we are well established on cereal then we can move to stage 1 vegetables. So, cereal is going great. We've gone from not much thicker than formula to something roughly the consistency of oatmeal. I hate oatmeal. But, Grant seems to be a fan and that's all that really counts here. He gets excited now when he sees the bowl and if he's a little bit pissy when we put him in his high chair then usually the first few spoonfuls make him happy. He grabs for the spoon now like he just can't get enough and I swear he sometimes makes "Mmmmm" noises.

Everybody said "Oh, rice cereal is going to change your life. They sleep SO much better when they get food in their little belly." Um, ok. He still wakes up at 3 a.m. crying but the only difference now is that we can stick the paci back in his mouth and he'll usually go back to sleep (whereas before he needed a bottle). But I'm just pointing out that at 3 a.m. there are three people in this house...and all three are awake (although Husband usually puts out the fire and I go back to sleep...ish). It's not like he's not getting enough to eat. I honestly can't belive this child doesn't just explode when we burp him. Maybe he's just a night owl. Although, if that's the case then we're going to have to teach him to use the DVR so mommy and daddy can get some sleep. Maybe we can record some Leno for him, that always puts me to sleep.

So, on to the veggies! We started with green beans. They pretty much look like we decided to feed him what we found in his diaper. But I will point out that I got some on my hand when opening the container so I tasted them. Not bad...it tasted like green beans minus all that delicious sodium that accompanies the canned variety (no, I did not add salt to Grant's green beans).



Poopy looking green beans

He gave me a big open mouth like he was expecting his goopy rice cereal and when I stuck in the spoonful of green beans his face immediately told me "Um...that is not cereal. Oh no, what in God's name did that awful woman just shove in my mouth?"



Um...I'm not sure about this business in my mouth

He got over it pretty quick. He swallowed the first spoonful, thought about it, and then immediately started grabbing for the spoon.



I can help!




That, right there, is my favorite thing. Ever.




Oh, oh, more beans! Give me more beans!





Messy and adorable.




He finished the whole container on the first try! Yay Grant!



Tonight we did just cereal (the beans from above were last night) and I let him play with the spoon for a minute. This situation went downhill very quickly after taking this picture.

 As a side note I just want to say that this whole learning to eat with a spoon thing isn't easy. And you get so many people giving you "advice". I put that in quotations because I use that term loosely. People tell you to put the cereal in the bottle - even when the doctor tells you not to because people can't admit that they don't know more than the doctor. They tell you to mix things (like fruit) with the cereal - even when the doctor tells you not to. People like to point out things like "Your grocery bill is going to skyrocket soon!" as if you were not aware that a baby required food. And, just when I thought I'd heard it all, someone actually said to me "Oh, you better get some baby spoons. A regular spoon will cut his lip." Thanks, that's valuble advice right there. I hadn't considered baby spoons.

However, I am so proud of my little man. And I'm proud of me too...yes, that's right I'm giving myself a pat on the back. We're having fun with food and I can't wait try more vegetables with him!