Jack's Eating Habits

Now that Jack has gotten used to solid foods, we have had fun giving him different things to try.  He still doesn't have any teeth yet (thank goodness, never been so glad I was wrong), but he sure does love to gum stuff.

When Jack likes something you give him, he will almost cry between bites if you don't give it to him fast enough.  When he doesn't like something, however, he gags like he's dying.  The first time he did that, it was after I gave him a small spoonful of pea puree.  He's not a fan.  Don't blame him.  Jack gagged again when I have him a tiny chunk of hot dog, while we were over at his grandparents' house.  Everyone thought he was choking while I just rolled my eyes at him looking like a callous mother because I knew the truth.  Jack can be a bit dramatic.

Jack LOVES to feed himself.  He warmed up considerably to both peas and hot dog when I let him eat them by himself.  And he's surprisingly good at it.  The way he picks his little bits of food up isn't quite a pincer grasp, but it's too advanced to be a mere raking grasp.  It's sort of a hybrid of the two.  And highly effective.  And then, the first time he managed to get the spoon from me (he reaches for it every time it comes near), he surprised me by putting the right end directly into his mouth, using his free hand to guide it.  He's such a smartie.  Now I let him feed himself for a portion of every meal.  Not the whole meal, though.  He's messy.

After fighting with him for half an hour, I finally just dumped his peas onto his tray and let him play in them.  He will eat them when mixed with carrots, however, which he also does not like by themselves.

Jack's favorite thing, though, is definitely to just grab fistfuls of food and stuff them into his mouth as quickly as can be.  The only reason he practices his pincer grasp at all is because I will usually only give him a single cheerio or tomato bit or what-have-you at a time.

Last Saturday night we went out for Thai food with Lewis' parents.  Lewis' mother thoughtfully brought along a banana for Jack and while we were waiting for our food, I mashed it up and fed some to him.  When our food arrived, however, I want to eat so I placed a small scoop of rice in front of Jack.  Oh em gee, he went nuts.  Absolutely crazy.  He couldn't get enough of it.  He squished it through his fingers.  He rubbed it all over his face.  He dumped it down the front of his overalls.  He occasionally got some in his mouth.  It was adorable.  We kept having to replenish his supply.  I feel bad for the people who had to clean up under his high chair after we'd gone.

He does the same thing with bread.  After finding a tasty sandwich bread recipe that only takes an hour, start to finish, I've taken to making my own bread regularly.  Last week I forgot to add salt to the dough.  But guess who doesn't care?  Jack.  A while after one meal I found bread crumbs all over his diaper while undressing him for his bath.  He had dumped them all down his shirt.

I've got to say, I really appreciate having a kid with such a passion for food because Lewis and I really like to cook and bake.  It's been a lot of fun to plan his meals and watch him enjoy them (or not and gag on them as the case may be), even if it means a bigger mess for me to clean up each day (I sweep all the time now).  Plus we discovered his affinity for ginger snaps which gives me an excuse to buy them cause I love them too and I don't have a satisfactory recipe to make my own.

Now if only he would outgrow his milk allergy.  Lewis and I make a lot of dishes with or that would go well with dairy.