Hank - Solids

As I mentioned before, Hank's had a busy couple of weeks... I'm starting to make the realization that we are officially moving out of the itty, bitty baby days... crazy.  Here he is starting solid foods.  Our doctor wanted us to get as close to 6 months as possible, but she said we might want to start a little sooner since Hank is such a big boy.

I started to get the feeling that he was ready because of his eagerness to play with and drink water from a spoon and because of his constant needing to nurse - I just knew I wasn't getting him enough food anymore.  So we waited till just after his 5 month "birthday" and opened up a jar of sweet potatoes my friend Heather had given me that her son no longer needed.  Let's just say this little guy was beyond ready - he was leaned forward, mouth open, and grabbing the spoon out of our hands in eagerness to get the sweet potatoes into his mouth faster.  He finished two containers of sweet potatoes and we stopped here there, but I think he might have kept going if we let him. 

Since then we've tried avocado, pears and oatmeal as well, and Hank loved them all (I ended up only going 2 days between introducing foods, instead of the recommended 3-5 because Hank was so eager and we don't have many allergies in our families).  I'm planning to make my own food, so those were easy foods to get started with (since they really just need to be mashed), but I've already started to puree and freeze some veggies in preparation for Hank's expanding appetite.

I also moved to feeding him 2 times a day right away because he did seem so hungry, and he was completely ready for it... apparently I should have started this a little sooner!  We actually fed him 3 meals today and he ate at all three, so I'm not sure what's going on here, but I'm happy to keep his belly full!

 Getting after it...

 Happy boy...

 Guess who else wanted to try sweet potatoes...

 Leaned back in for more...

 But oh, look what I found!

I think he can't decide which he likes better, the food or his thumb.  The past couple times I have fed him he has sucked on his thumb until I brought the spoon to his mouth, he then grabs the spoon shoves it in his mouth, and when I pull it away, he pops his thumb right back in.  Needless to say this creates a bit of a messy situation!