Solid

Bennett loved his first taste of solids. The sweet potato goodness got everywhere as he learned to taste, slurp and swallow. We laughed. He smiled. Pears and apples were greeted with the same gluttonous gusto. It was going well.

His first fruits were, gasp, store bought. We were traveling and I was too lazy to pack a steamer, food processor and various accoutrements those yuppie baby cookbooks demand. I rarely let mommy guilt tripping affect me, so I ignored the quip from one particular yuppie baby cookbook “You wouldn’t serve yourself three meals a day from some carcinogenic concoction from a can.” Or something to that effect. Ok, to the kitchen I went.

Bananas were our first foray into homemade baby food. It’s the kind of cooking I can handle, fork, milk, mush, serve. He hated them. He took one bite and spit them back out. I had a feeling it was because they were nowhere near as smooth and pureed as those store bought jars. Then, B woke up in the middle of the night. He’d gotten sick. We got to change the sheets and calm a screaming baby at 2 in the morning. Ok, no more bananas.

The next weekend I was committed to making Bennett wholesome, delicious food, squash, carrots and apples. I spent $2 on a freaking organic zucchini. I spent an afternoon chopping, peeling, steaming, washing, pureeing and measuring out food into little two ounce jars. I put a separate stockpile into the freezer. Bennett hated the squash. He did not approve of the apples and I don’t even want to talk about what happened to the carrots. My kid is going to grow up loving fruit snacks and those frozen pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the crusts cut off.

Besides hating homemade baby food and getting sick, solids have had another unfortunate effect on my child. Some parents complain of well, umm, solids when baby starts solids.  But for eight days there is no poop coming down his chute.  I'm sorry.  I went there.  But poor B.