Introduction

December 5th, 2009 I gave birth to my perfect little man, Ian. Everyday has been full of new experiences. I knew from before he was even conceived that I didn't want to do things like everyone. I exclusively breastfeed, in fact, I'm sort of what they call a Lactavist. Breast milk was my son's only form of nourishment for the first 5 months of his life. At first I didn't dare supplement for fear of diminishing my milk supply however I quickly learned how wonderful breastfeeding was for not only my baby, but myself! Ian gained weight very quickly. Born at 9 lbs and 1.8 oz he was no little baby to begin with, but by the age of 3 month he had already doubled his birth weight!

When it came to starting solids, I was really in no rush. I knew I wanted to make my own baby food. I love cooking (not to mention I'm a bit of a foodie) and I love fresh produce so it was only natural for me to do so.

When I found out my husband would be coming home for R&R (he is currently deployed with the United States Army in Iraq) the same time Ian was turning 5 months I found it the perfect opportunity for him to experience a first since he misses so many being away.

Ian was sitting up well with little support and seemed, at the time, to ready to start solids. We gave him rice cereal thinned, to an almost soupy texture, with breast milk. His reaction was pretty normal for a first time eater, what the heck is this stuff? As the week went on he got a little better at eating but after that he completely lost interest. I decided I would hold off and try again around 6 months.

A few days before he turned six months my family was in town visiting and I was telling my mom how the day before for the first time he really started to notice me eating. He intentionally watched my fork go from the plate to my mouth and back again. My mom suggested I try the cereal again, so I did. What a huge difference a few weeks made! His tongue thrusting was gone and he began to eat the cereal off the spoon and swallow. He was finally ready!

My reason for starting this blog is to share how my son learns the art of eating and to share my personal experiences of making my own baby food.

This is my first blog, so as I embark into this new adventure, I want to leave you with a Voltaire quote that I think describes our relationship as human beings with food very well. "Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity."