Picnic at the Park

 We went on our first official picnic a couple of days ago. Miko is quite mobile now and really doesn't stay still so I was unsure how our picnic would turn out.

 Thankfully, my worries were unfounded. Miko sat excitedly on the blanket and was content to just watch everything for awhile. There was a huge tractor cutting the grass that he could not take his eyes off of.

 He was so mesmerized by his surroundings that he didn't eat very much!

 After about 20 minutes we headed over to the nearby playground.  It was a very popular spot that day.

I had to take a picture of this amazing mosaic wall mural that decorated the public bathrooms.

Baby Led Solids - A Progress Report

Last week Miko showed me that he was ready to feed himself with a spoon and a bowl.  I accidentally left his bowl of oatmeal on his tray and turned around to find him carefully inspecting this new item.  Much to my surprise, he was extremely cautious with it and never once spilled or dropped his bowl of oatmeal!

 For twenty minutes he manipulated his bowl and spoon and managed to feed himself quite a lot of oatmeal. Eventually he discovered he could use his hand without the spoon and that worked even better :)

 I still have nothing but good things to say about our experience with baby-led solids (well except for the mess - that has actually gotten worse).  Miko can now pretty much feed himself anything, we don't have to spoon feed him at all.  It is very nice that we can all eat together as a family.  Miko usually always eats what we are eating, I just cut his food up into manageable pieces for him first.

 He never turns up his nose at anything, well not yet anyway.  He loves fresh fruits and vegetables as well as pasta, toast, cheese, deli meat, ribs, eggs, soup, fish and slightly spiced black beans and rice.

Here is a typical day of meals for our little guy:
Breakfast: Hard boiled egg and banana
Lunch: Oven roasted turkey deli meat, cucumber, medium cheddar cubes, red pepper
Snack: Gluten free oat o's and apple slices
Dinner: Rice pasta with tomato sauce and cheese plus some avocado and orange slices

Wetland Walk (Look Ma, I Can Eat an Apple)

Baby-Led Solids (according to my phone)

 Miko eating kiwi, one of his new favourite foods

A video of Miko trying olives for the first time

 



 Miko eating (and finger painting with) avocados

 Miko eating cucumber sticks and chicken

 He likes to have a piece in each hand, he takes alternating bites

A video of Miko eating Kiwi

 Here is Miko eating yogurt for the first time. He really enjoys eating from a spoon and is quite good at it. I just have to load the spoon up for him and he's good to go.

Baby-Led Solids - A Success So Far

Miko has been doing great with the baby-led solids approach. He is now capable of picking up pieces of food, big or small, and putting them into his mouth.  Although sometimes the food doesn't quite make it inside, or it will fall out later while he is 'chewing'.  He can use both hands and doesn't favour one or the other quite yet. 

 

As we expected, he is starting to get very messy... in addition to getting his face and hands covered in food, he has now discovered the exciting act of throwing food on the floor.  And mashing food around on the tray table, he loves doing that too.  He is a still a very slow eater, we can sit there for half an hour and he might only consume a tablespoon worth of food. Other times, particularly when he is eating avocado, banana, watermelon or other soft food, he can eat much more than that.

 

The only thing he doesn't like (yet) is broccoli, but he sure likes everything else.  His favourites so far are watermelon, avocado, kiwi, olives, tilapia and salmon.

Miko Tries Rice Pasta and Scrambled Eggs

 I'm not sure if he actually ate any pasta but he sure licked the noodles clean.

 Someone sure loves to try new food

Phone pics while he tried scrambled eggs for the first time:

Yes, this smile seems to accompany every meal!  I think he really likes being up in his high chair.

Baby Led Solids Update

 Miko has made great progress with baby-led weaning recently. Last night he actually swallowed a couple bites of food! (sausage and shredded cheese)  There was no gagging involved either which made the experience more enjoyable for Luke and I. Miko actually gets distracted by his bib and will start chewing on it instead of his food. 

 Here he is eating some shredded cheese and chunks of watermelon.

 A little messy, but not too bad, it's been worse.

 Ikea's antelope highchair has been awesome, it is very easy to clean and doesn't weigh very much.

 Here he is eating some banana, this is probably his favourite food so far. 

 Notice the lack of bib, he wasn't distracted by it this time.

 Bananas are pretty slippery for him so he was trying some other ways of getting it in his mouth.

 He's getting pretty good at grabbing large chunks of food and putting them in his mouth. He will either suck on it or try to mash it up with his gums.

 Miko certainly loves to explore food and sit with us at the dinner table. So far, feeding Miko with the baby-led solids method has been working out for us and we hope the trend continues.