Last week Blaise ate avocado once every day after nursing. He really enjoyed it, as you can see :) Since he of course wasn't eating a whole avocado every time, I cut it into slices and froze them individually. Then, every morning, I'd take one out to defrost. By the time I was ready for it later it was thawed and room temperature. I smashed it with a fork and sometimes added a little breastmilk (if I had some) to thin it.
We started with sweet potato on Wednesday. I was going to go with pumpkin, but they didn't have one at the organic stand at the farmer's market on Saturday. Sweet potato it was. Again, Blaise really seems to enjoy it (as is apparent from the picture below). I tried my same routine with the sweet potato as with the avocado with the difference that I baked it in the oven first. I didn't like how he was chewing it strangely though and went back and pureed the whole thing. I then froze individual "blops" of sweet potato. The first time he got some, he seemed to look at me like, "what's this, what happened to the avocado?" I had showed him the new color, but not until he got the taste did he realize something different was coming his way. It sure makes for funny colored poop! :)
We have a great park about a 15 minute walk from our apartment. You can relax there in the summer, grill, play soccer and there are some fabulous playgrounds! There is also a super water playground with a slide and sprinkler-like mechanisms. Kim was visiting this weekend, so we went up there together with Andrea and Adrian.
Tante Andi holding Blaise before we left for the park
On the way to the park
We've reached the park, now on to the playground
Adrian having fun in the water
Blaise "got his feet wet"
"I like it, Daddy!"
Hanging out under the tree with Tante Andi and Kim
We really lucked out that Andrea, Jan's sister, had her baby first. She was very generous with us and gave us all the gear she still had from when Adrian was a baby. (on a side note, he turned FOUR yesterday!) The biggest item we received from her was the stroller (not shown here). If you buy a new top of the line stroller it will set you back up to €900 ($1260!!)!! So, even if you don't choose to go top of line and push you baby around in the ferarri of all strollers, you are still looking at a few hundred. Thanks again, Andrea!!
Blaise has been practicing sitting a lot and he can hold himself really well when supported. We decided that it was time to get him upright in the stroller. Although the other buggy we had was able to accomodate this, Andrea gave us this stroller to transition into. This is the buggy she bought while we were all in Florida together after the wedding. It looks like it is going to make another trans-atlantic trip this fall, since we have pretty much decided just to take this one with us instead of buying a new one in the US.
We tried it out and Blaise seems to like it! It can recline back for him to sleep too, although we haven't tried that yet. He loves riding through the city and being able to look at everything and everyone. It is really fun to see how excited he gets and how curious about everything he is. Plus now the strangers who are walking towards us are always smiling because he is so cute and laughs with everyone.
we run our music through the dvd player and the speakers on the TV, hence the blue screen.
As I previously mentioned, I knew we were getting close to Blaise eating solids. He was showing much interest in what we eat and drink. My ultimate goal is to continue nursing until Blaise is 12 months, while he experiments with new tastes, textures and smells. After doing some internet research, I (along with Jan of course) decided to start with avocado. Why avocado, you ask? Well, they have a lot of good stuff in them and they are soft and mushy. Want more "real" information? See:
Seriously, what would I do without the internet? I would have to follow what everyone around me is doing without having the knowledge to make my own decisions. Yuck. Double Yuck. Thank you, Internet! (and books, too, of course, but they don't have such a nifty search function)
Last Friday was the Big Day. Blaise got some avocado. He really seemed to enjoy it, but didn't eat much. He has gotten about a tablespoon + everyday since and is enjoying his new form of nutrition. Soon we will introduce something new, not sure yet what...perhaps sweet potatoes?
I tried a little photo shoot with B the morning of the Great Avocado Adventure. It was right before his nap, so we didn't have much time.
What's this, Mommy?
Need. To. Get. Avocado.
Need. To. Sleep.
A well rested Blaise, excited about trying something new
So I posted a while back that Blaise had rolled over, well that must have been an accident :) He didn't really do it much after that - only with a bit of help. He has changed so much recently that we knew the independent roll was coming for real this time. We have also been working with him to help him strengthen his muscles. He is now spending more time happily on his belly and scoots somewhat. I think he is getting frustated that he cannot really move forward, which makes me think that is also not far off.
We also think he is working on some teeth, but haven't seen any real proof of that yet.
He has great head control and is close to sitting up independently.
We have reached another monumentous goal - Blaise has been exclusively breastfed for 6 months! I had contemplated trying to go a year at 100%, but it is now clear that isn't going to be possible. Blaise is highly interested in what we are eating and it will be fun to watch him develop his own personal tastes. Not sure yet when we'll start other foods, but it can't be too long now. I will continue nursing as long as possible (within reason), but I hope to make it at least to 12 months. It wasn't always easy, but I am so glad that we made it!
He likes to "talk" now and has a lot to say. We are working on vowel/constant sounds right now: ma, da, ba and ga. He does a lot of "gee" or "ah-gee" and says "hi" - he is good at the "h" sound.
He also responds to his name (as long as he isn't busy doing something else).
He is reaching for things and showing preference to toys and getting upset when he can't play with them - the most interesting toy is the laptop and the telephone. :)
We are astounded every day at how smart he is and much he is changing. It has been an amazing 6 months!
We started with sweet potato on Wednesday. I was going to go with pumpkin, but they didn't have one at the organic stand at the farmer's market on Saturday. Sweet potato it was. Again, Blaise really seems to enjoy it (as is apparent from the picture below). I tried my same routine with the sweet potato as with the avocado with the difference that I baked it in the oven first. I didn't like how he was chewing it strangely though and went back and pureed the whole thing. I then froze individual "blops" of sweet potato. The first time he got some, he seemed to look at me like, "what's this, what happened to the avocado?" I had showed him the new color, but not until he got the taste did he realize something different was coming his way. It sure makes for funny colored poop! :)
