I think I'm going to go back to the old diary system next month. I like Blogger & everything, but I'm actually doing more work now than I was when I uploaded a separate page for each entry. More work = not good. Less work = more motivation to continue writing. And we all like that.

Today it was just me & the Sprout for nearly the whole day. (This is rare in my house; not only is the Boy a committed co-parent, but my parents are always looking for a chance to hold his Booness.) I loved every minute of it. Well, most minutes; I wasn't terribly thrilled about the part at 7:30 when he woke up & wanted to play. But after a quick diaper change, he allowed himself to be nursed back to sleep and I kept my perilous grip on sanity. Good baby.

We went grocery shopping by ourselves for the first time today. It was awesome...there was almost no one about, so I could sing nonsense songs about vegetables with minimal embarrassment and let go of the cart from time to time without worrying about a crash. At first he played happily with the bag of spinach greens (it makes a sound just like his ladybug toy), but soon he needed to be out & about. I spent the rest of the excursion juggling a very curious baby in my arms & pushed the cart with whatever body part I could spare at that moment. We did a little dance in the dairy aisle & I let him pick the garlic spread.

It wasn't so much what we did, but what it felt like. We flowed. We were in perfect harmony and that made it more exciting than a ferris wheel.

In other most exciting news, we secretly tried some solid foods yesterday. I say secretly because my mom's on a semi-serious campaign to get the baby eating cereal...not because he needs it, but because it's fun and it's something she can do for him. I have reacted in a typical daughter-type way, which is to say that I've planted my heels like a mule. I refuse to even acknowledge the possibility of solids before 6 calendar months...in public. In private, I'm secretly watching him like a hawk. I want to do this but I want his first food to be all mine, unlike his first bath & his first haircut. (Resentful, much?)

Yesterday he was in the sling while I ate a banana, and he was mooching. By mooching I mean that he was following the banana with his whole attention, focussing in on the homely spectacle of biting, chewing & swallowing like there was going to be a test later. He was also grabbing for the banana whenever it swung by his little hands (he's getting awfully grabby lately. I can't eat with him on my lap anymore 'cause his hands are everywhere.)

So I did what Ani suggested: I grabbed one of his rubber-tipped spoons and scraped the sides of the banana until I had a tiny bit of mush. Then I popped the spoon in his mouth.

At first he just sat there. Then he pushed the gunk out with his tongue. Fascinated, I scooped it up off his wee lip & plopped it on the middle of his tongue. Once again, he refused to have anything to do with it. But on the third try, he swallowed.

He swallowed! My baby ate some sweet mush! He took the spoon in his mouth & sucked the nutrients right off! I'm so proud. Next thing you know he'll be a challenger on Iron Chef.

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- Rocketbride's adventure of 4/28/2004 10:56:00 p.m.