Starting Solids

Victoria turned six months old last Saturday. Hard to believe it's been six months already. She has grown up so much since then, and especially in the last month or so. She now sits up all on her own, and is so interactive with the rest of the family. She'll happily sit on her own and play with toys, but she also cries whenever I leave the room. She loves her big sister Kathleen so much. Her face lights up whenever anyone talks to her. She knows her own name and responds by turning around when you call her.

But with her growing up so quickly, I have been strangely slow to respond. Maybe I subconsciously want my baby to stay a baby for longer. While most if not all of the other babies in her coffee group have long since started solids, I waited until Victoria was almost six months old before she had her first meal. Partly it was because we've been so busy the last month or so that we didn't have time at the weekends for a big elaborate first meal. And as Peter missed out on Kathleen's first meal, I wanted him to be there for Victoria's.

So she had her first meal, of baby rice, on Saturday the 10th. And after all the buildup, she wasn't overly fussed about it. She just wanted to play with the spoon and chew on it. Didn't much care for what was actually on the spoon. Most of it ended up on her face!!!

Since then she has also tried apples and bananas. Didn't care much for the apples either, but quite likes bananas.

Although it took me a long time to get around to starting her on solid food, I have actually been preparing for it for quite a while. Every time we've have had vegetables for dinner lately, I have done up a huge batch and frozen part of it for Victoria to eat in time. Our freezer is now chock full of carrots and broccoli and parsnip and potatoes and kumara and pumpkin, and soon to also have the pureed leftovers from last night's beef casserole. Lots of good, hearty vegetables for the winter months. I hate the cold weather, but I do love the comfort food you get in winter.

One thing Victoria's still lagging behind in, is sleeping through the night. I am getting very tired of getting up in the middle of the night. However I've been rather lucky the last couple of nights she has slept through. Don't expect it will continue, but it's sure been nice to wake up feeling refreshed in the morning.

Cheers,
Megz