Boy, Meet Watermelon.

Boy meets watermelon.

Boy inspects and mutilates watermelon.

Boy eats watermelon.


Thank you for joining us in this adventure of baby led solids.

Zen and the Art of Homemade Green Beans

My husband had a grad class tonight, and I was in the mood for green beans so I decided to take a Mommy-Baby food adventure and cook up some organic greenies for Gabe and myself.

Sidenote: A bag of organic green beans at Trader Joe's is about $1.29 max.

I just made a small amount-- enough for a Mommy serving and four "baby's first" servings. But I will never waste my time making a small batch of baby green beans again. Because of the skins on green beans, you have to push the blended beans through a mesh strainer. It was pretty time-consuming-- next time, I'm doing a big batch and knocking out the mess in one shot.

I was a little daring (for some, not for others) this evening, though. Gabe was HATING his pureed green beans-- spitting them out and crying horribly-- so I thought to myself as I eyed my plate, "What would he think of my green beans?"

I sliced a bean in half, used my knife to swipe out the beans (choking hazards) within, and handed him some real cooked string beans.

Instantly the crying ends--Instantly he starts grabbing beans. Yum. Yum. Yum.

What struck me here was that after nomming and sucking on his green beans as I ate mine, he then gobbled down his ounce of green beans and an ounce of apples with a grin on his face. I wonder if finger-fooding it up allowed him to explore the taste before the puree overpowered his mouth? Maybe he liked having some control (alla baby led solids which I will definitely be writing more on later)? Whatever it was, it changed the entire mood of dinnertime, and it was awesome.

**I will note that finger foods are not generally recommended until about 8 months of age or when baby has mastered the pincer (pointer finger - thumb) grasp. Gabe is pretty close to having the pincer down, and he has all four of his front teeth now. He creepishly crawls and he's figuring out how to cruise. He is developing quickly, and it just feels right to let him carefully explore some finger foods at almost seven months. I think it's important to listen to your baby and medical recommendations when it comes to food timing guidelines, and letting G try real green beans was my choice for him today. Please don't think I'm pushing early finger foods across the board.**