Rice, Cup, Daddy

At our last doctor appointment, the doctor advised us to begin feeding William rice cereal around the time he turned 5 months old. As the 5 month mark approached, I found it more and more difficult to wait. On Friday, William was officially 20 weeks old - close enough to the 5 month mark for me. Also at play is our upcoming trip to MN a few days after he turns 5 month old. I wanted to either wait until we got back or start a little sooner to get the feeding established. Well, we all know how I am about waiting...so today began the rice cereal.

I really felt like he was SO ready. He (I think) really liked eating it and sucked happily at the spoon. He opened his mouth up like a champ each time I came with the cereal on the spoon. Getting the spoon past the hands was more problematic... The mixture was very much more on the liquid than solid side, but that is okay. It made a nice mess and I think went well. Here are the pictures of William's first rice cereal feeding from this afternoon.

Before: clean and happy!

The first bites

Mmmmmm....

Open wide...

Halfway through, we switched spoons. This one held a lot more liquid. I thought it had a better chance of getting more in that mouth. I think it just made a bigger mess.

The end mess...

Boy, was that good! I think if I would have made more, he would have gobbled it right up! We didn't want to push it today though. It was more for fun than for filling him up.

After dinner, we went for a walk though our neighborhood and upon returning, those of us that walk we quite warm. So, we went and got us some cold water from the fridge. In the past few weeks, William has become a pain when you are trying to comsume something while holding him. He wants to hold/eat/suck/lick whatever you are holding on to. So, after trying to hold him and drink water, I opted to pull out his sippy cup. I put a tiny bit of water in the bottom of it and pull out the suction thingee in the lid and let him have a go at it. This isn't the first time he has used his cup and he was delighted to see it again. He still has no idea how to operate it (see: pool post from a few days ago), but enjoys using it very much.

William attempts the cup

The cup vs the Boy


Mouth open...check!

We found the liquid more likely to go in his mouth with gravity on his side...


Perfect! Hands AND feet!

In the last week or so, I began noticing a very peculiar trend. William became a entirely delightful baby when his father was around. In the last two days, the daddy's boy syndrome has come to a full head. The evidence: I tried to put William down for a nap both today and yesterday with no luck. John waltzed (or maybe polkad) his way in and within 8 minutes had the Boy snoozing peacefully in his crib. Not a tear in sight. William also bounces and giggles when his daddy enters the room and today demonstrated his desire to be held by his dad by throwing his entire body weight towards John while I was holding him over an unforgiving hard surface. William loves his daddy. It is perfect timing for tomorrow's holiday. More on this subject tomorrow...