Maren the Eater!

Happy 2012! I am W-A-A-A-A-Y-Y-Y-Y behind on blogging and have a couple of posts and photo albums in the works -- tales of Christmas in Brussels and fireworks on New Year's, plus about a million photos of Maren from Weeks 12-24. But, until I get those finished, here's a little something to marvel over: Maren is nearly six months old and just starting eating "solids"!


Maren at 24 Weeks (5 1/2 months)

Here in Belgium, it is customary to start babies out on puréed vegetables. Our pediatrician recommends half potato - half vegetable, with a teaspoon of healthy oil like olive, sunflower, or colza. Once that is well established, you add a second "meal" of fruits.





So, Maren celebrated New Year's Eve with her first taste of solid food, and she did very well for her first time out! She loved the act of eating something new and seemed to enjoy the food. This was especially impressive as the first batch was just okay. I prepared it on the stove and puréed it in my food processor, which resulted in a very sticky texture (apparently food processors and potatoes do not mix!). Thankfully, my parents gave us an awesome baby food cooker for Christmas, which we purchased on the first day of the January sales! Since then ma petite cuisine is much improved, and I have been using the Béaba to whip up such delicacies as carrot-potato, parsnip-potatoes-and-prunes and apple purée.


Homemade carrot and potato purée

The food has gotten better, plus we got Maren some special infant spoons that are easier for her to manage.



Now she's off to the races, eating fruits too! Here's a movie Troy made of Maren getting a taste of bananas and then graduating to "real" food.