We’ve got to borrow a highchair from a couple of friends and I put Jessica in it for the first time on Wednesday (8th August). She looked so small in it (and terribly cute!) but very confident too: sat there with her back straight and one arm on each of the arm rests, as if she was chairing an important meeting.
I have now fed her combinations like raspberry & banana, apple & mango, parsnip & peas, potato & sweet potato as well as porridge mixed with fresh fruit. She still hasn’t refused anything, though when I was due to feed her avocado the other day she was too tired to be interested in solids (“just let me have the straightforward bottle of formula, please!”) and I didn’t insist as I don’t want her to get frustrated with the whole food thing. She loves everything involving fruit – because it’s sweet I presume… Porridge mixed with fruit is a hit, too. She leans forward and opens her mouth, barely giving me time to fill the spoon again.
She has cried from frustration a few times, though, at what I’m assuming is the slow pace of the feed and the lack of control on her part. At times she has grabbed the mug out of my hands – she obviously knows that’s where the food comes from – and tried to drink the puree straight out of it… I have given her her own spoon and helped her fill it with food, and then she has promptly put it in her mouth. But, of course, she’s not mastered the skill yet, so most of the food doesn’t go where it should, plus she can’t refill the spoon (actually, she did try to once yesterday, but she put the handle down first, so it didn’t quite work…).
I’m not sure quite what to do when she cries out of frustration, apart from generally taking things slow and let her set the pace as well as I can. I try to offer the next spoonful as quickly as possible so it’s up to her how soon she wants to eat it, to let her hold the spoon herself and I obviously don’t force any food into her mouth or try to pop it in there when she’s crying. When she cries and I know there’s tiredness involved, I lift her out of the highchair and give her formula instead.
When it comes to fruit, Jessica has so far had banana, apple, pear, mango, raspberries and nectarine. I have deliberately hesitated about blueberries, as I dread the resulting stains on her muslin squares and clothes… She’s not throwing up quite as much as she used to – this was actually the case even before the weaning started. But she still does throw up and instead of only milk-coloured stains on everything we now have orange for carrot and sweet potato, red for raspberries and green for broccoli and peas…
I don’t know if it’s one of those general baby things (obviously a modern day one, if it is), but Jessica is completely fascinated by my mobile phone and will drop any toy if she spots it. She’ll grab for it straight away if it’s within reach and try to put it in her mouth. I’ll hazard a guess and say that she’s picked up on the fact that I find it so interesting: she sees me clicking the buttons and staring at the screen and feels like she wants in on the game. But I can’t let her play with it, really. I’m not sure about the radiation issue of having the mobile that close to her little brain. Also, she dribbles all over it and I’m not sure how waterproof it is. Yesterday she started to cry when I took it away – that’s the first time she’s ever reacted that way to anything she is playing with being removed.
Jessica has gone a step further in her development regarding rolling: in the last couple of days we have seen her do it deliberately a few times and looking mightily pleased with herself! Once on her tummy she’s looked all around her, emitted happy little shrieks and proceeded to grab at the nearest object. She likes lying on her tummy on the grass – I guess it’s a fairly new surface compared to carpets and rugs. She’ll tear at the grass, filling her hand and getting it all over herself, and afterwards I seem to find grass everywhere: on her toys, her rug, the nappy changing mat, her mouth…
When in the garden it has moved from the ‘see but not touch’ approach to a much more hands-on one – she’s been touching leaves for a while but nowadays she tears at them, ripping leaves of branches and either putting them in her mouth or dropping them on the floor. She can also grab a branch and then thrash it around for a while. One of us often takes her for a walk around the garden before bedtime and you can tell when she’s getting tired and fed-up and it’s time for bed: then she thrashes branches about without even looking at them, with a firm grip and a stern face.
Jessica splashes a lot more in the bath now, deliberately whacking her arms against the surface and kicking her legs and watching the effect. It’s fun to watch her play: she smiles and giggles. Her Mum gets pretty much soaked every time, so I’ve started to strip down to my underwear to bathe her. Jessica is getting a bit too long for the baby bath and as soon as she’s confident sitting up without support, I’ll go in the big bath with her – that’s bound to be easier all around.
Gabriella