A grape!

We were having sandwiches today for lunch, which wasn't suitable for Bella at this early stage as she shouldn't have wheat, so to keep her occupied I gave her a grape. It was really for her to play with as I didn't think she'd be able to eat it, and was regreting my decision when she picked it up easily and started putting it in her mouth. I was watching her like a hawk.
She slowly managed to soften the grape with her hands and mouth and eventually managed to get the juice out of it and left the skin! I was amazed and very proud.
I had forgotten how amazing any new food is to the baby and also for us as the parents to watch.

Getting Supplies

Well I felt I should go on a little shopping trip to get Bella her very own bib and a few other "weaning" bits and pieces of her own. (Freddie's bibs are now very grubby!).
So with her brand new pink sleeved bib we sat down for some shepherd's pie leftovers. I first put a piece of carrot in front of her that was very difficult for her to pick up and made her frustrated. So although I knew it would be MESSY, put a bit of the mashed potato in front of her! She LOVED it, I think she a
When Freddie had finished, he had left quite a bit still on his plate so I gave it to Bella, she liked to pick up the plate and eat the food from the edge of the plate, rather than pick it up by herself, at least she's resourceful!te quite a bit of it and was a very very happy baby with plenty of smiles of pride.

It Begins .....

Well after a week or so of Bella nicking food from my plate at dinner time I decided she was ready!
She had been sitting up in her highchair with toys while we eat at mealtimes for a couple of weeks and been sitting up unaided (for about 10-20 seconds at a time).
Over the weekend the toys at the highchair just weren't enough for her and she would cry until I picked her up, then once on my lap she had fun snatching and swiping at my food on my plate! Not happy at seeing my dinner ending up on the floor and the mess it created, on Monday 30th August 2010 early at 20 weeks old, I put a splashmat down on the floor under her highchair and gave her 3 wedges of potato (our dinner was jacket potatoes).
She had great fun grabbing these and putting them into her mouth, and gumbing down on them, giving us lovely big smiles when the potato got into her mouth. I was worried about the skin on the potato, but it helped her grab it and she just sucked around it so was perfect.
Older brother Freddie (just turned 2) who was also an early BLW baby, found it odd that his baby sister was "eating" and kept trying her "help" her!!