First Foods

When people ask me how old Eleanor is I always answer "Six Months."  I've been saying this for weeks although technically she still has one more week to go.  I don't know why I am so anxious for her to reach this milestone...perhaps because she really is growing and changing so rapidly.

Six months is a big deal.  I can't believe that Eleanor has been here for almost half a year.  These months have been so much fun.  Watching Eleanor grow and change has been amazing.  I know every mom feels that she is just the luckiest lady to watch her child grow up, and so do I.  It makes me feel so special.

While I have embraced and loved every single stage of Eleanor's development, I have been looking forward to one thing the most.  I like watching her roll over and even attempting to crawl, but I am really anxious to watch her eat foods.  So anxious that I could hardly help myself when I had a half of a banana lurking around the kitchen on Thursday at the beach.

This was not the plan.  We were intending to wait until exactly six months.  I wanted her first taste of food to be sweet potato.  But that cute little face was begging for a taste and she loved every bit of it!

I promise.

Our plan for food is Baby Led Weaning.  This is a fancy, cheesy name for letting your baby eat regular foods.  Of course it has to be done within reason, but there is very little restriction on what babies can eat.  We don't intend to get particular with certain foods.  Many people decide to hold off on foods that are considered high-allergens.  Typically eggs, peanuts and soy are found on this list.  I think we will plunge forward with all three of these foods within the first couple months.  Of course sweet potatoes are high on our first foods list. 

Obviously tortilla chips aren't on the list.  She is so interested in what we are eating.  It makes me think twice about what I order or cook because soon I will be feeding her off my plate regularly.

Please mom!

We will probably wait until she's six months old (8 more days) before we give her much more solid foods (this is not true...as of publishing she has already enjoyed sweet potatoes and strawberries, whoops!), but we can definitely tell she is ready.  She is so into what is going on while we are eating.  She is stalking our cups and food and mouthing chewing motions.  She is so cute and I can't wait to see her fully covered in crumbs and mushed up food! 

I am so excited for this new stage of development.  It gives us something really fun to do every single day.  This is an adventure I am ready to embark on.