Ruby’s culinary journey is progressing admirably. She’s now got four foods under her belt: apples, bananas, rice, and avocado. She’s particularly fond of bananas and avocado. When I eat an apple, I give her the apple core to lick and suck afterwards. And on our recent hike, she enjoyed eroding the end of a banana.
Her food-consuming skills have also improved to the point where she’s eating enough that she’s almost able to replace a milk meal. She opens her mouth to receive the spoon, usually doesn’t extrude the contents back out again, and probably consumes about 1/3 of a cup over the course of a meal. She also takes water from her sippy cup.
Now that Ruby’s food is acting as food, and not just a fun little learning activity for all parties involved, we need to start paying attention to nutrition. As her repertoire expands I’ll have more options available to make sure she’s getting the vitamins, iron, and protein that she’s not getting from her current table foods. I’m looking forward to adding a more wholesome grain than brown rice to her mix, some protein (beans? chicken?) and green vegetables (spinach!). That should cover all the bases.
Of course, she’s still getting five square meals of breastmilk (or formula, occasionally) every day, so we don’t have to worry about tinkering with her nutrition too much for the time being.