I think I might have found something that Jessica doesn’t like: avocado. She’s had it twice now and it’s not been more than a few mouthfuls each time before she’s started to cry and not been interested in trying any more. It’s possible that her disinterest is down to the fact that I’ve given her avocado lunch-time, at which point she’s usually getting a bit tired again, even if she’s had a decent morning nap. Sometimes she gets impatient with solids as a result: she has been known to even refuse banana! (For this reason I have moved lunch forward about half an hour – the longer gap after lunch until the 4pm meal doesn’t seem to bother her.) So maybe it was just the timing that was wrong. Maybe I should try giving her avocado for her mid-morning meal next time…
When Jessica eats, I fill the spoon for her and then hands it over to her so she can feed herself. This means that meal time is pretty messy, with food a bit everywhere on Jessica, me and the high chair… (She’s managed to avoid the carpet fairly well, so far.) It would’ve been much tidier if I fed her, of course, but she gets impatient with that and I’d like to see if letting her handle the spoon herself this early on might encourage her to perfect her use of cutlery sooner. She manages to get most of the food in her mouth, I’m pleased to say, and the food that goes outside I retrieve with the spare spoon I’m holding and serve back to her.
Jessica now shows a definite preference for using her right hand when reaching for the spoon, even though I offer it to both her hands. It’s fine if she turns out right-handed, of course, but it’d be great if she’d be able to use both of her hands as equally well as possible, like Ian: he’s left-handed but in most instances ambidextrous.
This is our second day at home just the two of us – outside it’s cold, blustery and damp, which doesn’t exactly encourage me to take Jessica out and about much, even though we still go for our regular walks. She’s sat at that battery-driven ‘control panel’ type toy a fair bit now (she seems to have found renewed interest in it from her being able to sit on the floor and play) and she sits very well on her own now, I’m very proud to say. I suspect that the inflatable ring has had a lot to do with that.
She likes plastic bags a lot – if they’re within reach she’ll grab them and pull, if they’re light enough to thrash about with she will. The bag with nappies and the bag with cotton wool balls in the bathroom have both suffered repeatedly at her hands…
Just one more thing: both Ian and I have now caught Jessica, on different occasions, pulling her sock off. So it’s not just the wriggling that does it but deliberate action too. Now we are wiser. (But I bet you it will happen several times again anyway.)
Gabriella