Starting our Solid Endeavor

For Christmas, Elijah received a Baby Cook- baby food maker- from Grandma and Grandpa Gerstner. He wasn't as excited yet for it, but I sure was! We are starting the endeavor of solids with our little man. We decided a while back that we wanted to make his baby food- for a less expensive and not to mention much healthier approach to feeding E. We gave him his first solid on Christmas (other than rice cereal, which, by the way, was Awful and he never ate because it was a battle every time). We started out with some cooked apples. It was fun to watch him explore his first taste- which proved to be a bit tart as he shivered every time we gave him a bite. He wasn't a huge fan, but I know he's also still learning the skill of eating solids. So, just because he's not eating them well, doesn't mean he doesn't like the food. We'll try apples again later. After a few days of those, we moved on to Sweet Potatoes. Here is the video of his first sweet potato taste- we get a lot of laughs by his reactions. To be honest, we're going on about a week of trying sweet potatoes. He still never gets more than a few tiny spoon fulls. The first bite is always the best- where he actually opens his mouth and moves toward the spoon. After he discovers what we gave him, it's usually still a bit of a fight and lots of effort to get him to take a couple more bites. All in all- we're learning together. He's learning new tastes and textures- although he much rather prefers the good mommy milk!;) I'm learning to be patient, and to let him set the pace. Just because he's 6.5 months, doesn't mean he HAS to eat solids perfectly. It may take us some time, and he may never love the baby food. But- we do know he LOVES crackers. :) We found this out after Aunt Jess offered him a cracker to gnaw and chew on. He loved the taste. Now he's like a little bird- opening his mouth and stretching his neck out for more every time we offer him a crumble of cracker or bread from the table. HA! It sure is cute, but hope this boy likes more than starches/carbs as he grows up!