finger food... or you can just use your mouth, whatever

3.19.2014

right about when he was nine months old, we started giving august his first finger foods. {i have to interrupt the story here for a moment to go slightly off topic and address the awkward fact that i've been referring to my son as "the baby" ever since the privacy issue was brought to question weeks ago. i've been trying to be more careful about the details i share here, but after some consideration, i'm not so sure that using his name poses a serious threat to our privacy. plus, those vague references are wordy and exhausting. so. back to august it is. and hey! that wasn't such a tangent after all because i'm eating my words, so we're still kind of talking about food} anyway.

so we started giving august solid food - that is, bits of non-pureed whole food - about three weeks ago. on our first attempt, i cut up a banana into baby-sized chunks and placed them in front of him. he looked at it, recognized it, and made the connection: i eat that. or maybe he didn't make the banana = food, food = something-you-eat connection (every new thing is first discovered by his mouth these days). either way, i had my camera at the ready for this momentous event of "baby's first". what was captured though, was very different from what i had imagined. i envisioned his little thumb and index finger delicately pinching a tiny morsel, examining it, and then very deliberately putting it in his mouth. he would then pause, smack his lips and nod in approval. yes, yes! i taste notes of honey, maybe a hint of pineapple? but this was not the curious-little-finger-pinching-of-morsels that i had pictured. no, this was MUCH better. instead, he made a nose dive right into the table with the banana his target. it makes sense really. up to that point food had very conveniently been coming to him either by breast or by spoon - all he had to do is open his mouth. 

after letting him hoover up that first piece though, i decided to be a good mom and teach him better dining etiquette. no, no, no. don't use your MOUTH, use your HANDS. but gosh darn if those bananas aren't the slipperiest suckers! he fumbled and prodded mostly. then he developed a system of grabbing the food, squishing it in his fist, and smashing it on his face. some of it would eventually make it's way into his mouth - i'd say one out of five - along with rogue dog hairs and some dust probably. FIVE-SECOND RULE! no? how about, "it builds a strong immune system"? hmm. well, we try. and so does august. he REALLY tries, scrunching up his forehead in concentration and pawing at the food.  that's when we brought out the fine cutlery. and wouldn't you know it, aside from a little help with piercing the food, the boy was a natural. i tell ya', if he isn't barbaric, he is totally refined because there's no in-between for a gentleman caught in baby's body. 

7 comments:

Unknown said...

love these blog post, lew! xoxoxo NE I read them all the time!

putri said...

Oh my, the boy is so cute >.<

WWW.PUTRIVALENTINALIM.BLOGSPOT.COM

Unknown said...

thanks mr. skelly! ;) miss you guys - i think another visit is soon in order!

Unknown said...

thank you, putri!

Tanya Jean said...

Ha, I'd much rather use my face to get the food than my hands any days ;)
xo TJ

http://www.hislittlelady.com

lucinda said...

hehehe! yeah tj, that's what make children so great, they keep it real. ;)

lucinda said...

thank you putri, you are very sweet.

 

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