Eating, Sophia Style

Sophia has definite opinions about what she wants to eat: it has to be tasty, it has to be different from last time, and it has to be what you're eating.

All the baby books are full of advice and good intentions. Introduce foods one at a time. Mix everything with breast milk or formula. Feed your baby separately from your mealtimes. Etc.

About the only thing that has worked "normally" for us has been the schedule of introducing new foods that our doctor gave us at one of her well-baby check-ups, and mainly because that's not really up to her. If the doctor says no egg whites before one year old, guess who's not getting egg whites?

An egg yolk, on the other hand, is something our baby happily and delicately nibbled from her spoon this morning, along with half of a slice of toast that she pinched carefully between thumb and forefinger before definitely -- but sometimes awkwardly -- placing into her mouth. Of course, Mom was having buttery garlic bread and generously seasoned eggs, but it looked close enough to what Mom was eating, which was good enough for her. And she didn't know that the liquid in Mom's mug is coffee, so she was fine with her water, although she still prefers a regular cup to her sippy cup.

Several of the babies in the day care are approximately the same age, and we compare notes like we're gossiping about women's shoes at the mall. Yours flings spaghetti and spits out macaroni but loves bow tie pasta? Mine refuses dark meat but will eat strips of white meat as a finger food. Have you tried using a Magic Bullet instead of a food mill for a chunkier texture? Does yours like basil?

Although her meal is much smaller, it takes her longer to eat it. But eventually, she was sagging in her harness, and while she was still pounding on the table to ask for more food, her poundings were half-hearted and her cries were closer to whimpers. She stared out the window at the finches that come by to steal dog hair to insulate their nest, and she wiped sleep from her eyes and smiled at me.