As a very new SAHM, I am in the business of saving money. I take the time to find the cheap and free days to different attractions around the city. Yesterday was our first trip to Stone Mountain Park together. I’ve heard from a number of my former colleagues that the park is a great place to run. So I loaded the little man in the car and we took the drive out to our state park.
Bennett took a quick nap in the car and I was grateful; maybe he would sleep in the thirty minutes it would take for me to run my three miles…or maybe he could enjoy the beautiful scenery as much as I would. It has been years since I’ve seen Stone Mountain in the daylight; there is something quite spectacular about the natural exposed granite mountain in the heart of my fair city. I’ve only seen the lawn during the laser show for the better part of twenty years or so and enjoyed it much more with my little man.
I began to run…in circles. I wasn’t really sure how I was going to stretch out this run into three, so I began to get lost within the gates of the park. Finally, I paused to look at a map. ‘The walk-up path,’ I thought. ‘How much fun would that be to hike to the top of the mountain and get pictures atop this state landmark for Bennett’s baby book?!’
Admittedly, I didn’t really remember much about the park. Naively, I thought that there may have been an easy stroller path to the top of the rock, since there was a driveway that led to the entrance of the walk-up path. And I learned, rather quickly, that taking a stroller up a mountain comprised entirely of rock is really hard: pun intended.
Mom #fail.
The deceptive paved path…and my angry face.
I am pretty sure I provided a few people with some laughs during their car ride home,
“Did you see that mom!? Did she know that navigating boulders with a stroller is impossible!? What an idiot!!”
It only took me about a quarter of a mile up the hill to realize, this was not going to happen. I would have to reserve my photos for the lawn: and I got some good ones!
Picnic and pictures on the lawn.
Checking out this puppy quilt.
That FACE!
Smirk
Love him
So my rock solid fun at Stone Mountain Park mirrored another one of my biggest mishaps for the week; introducing Bennett to solid food, which has been a solid mommy failure.
I wanted to wait until he was exactly 6 months old (next monday) to introduce solids, but we started a week early in case I had questions for the doctor…and I’ve got plenty of them already piled up.
The experience starts out innocently enough. Bennett smiles in his high chair and looks at me innocently with his baby blues. He even dishes out a few smiles here and there. And this is where the fun ends.
This looks like fun, mom!
After mixing up the oatmeal cereal, I put the smallest amount of cereal on the spoon and try to let Bennett try a taste. Then the tears flow.
Tears!
And more tears. I try a second spoonful, and there are even more tears.
More tears
Until I can’t stand it; I pick him up and hold him until he stops crying.
Mommy will hold you. You don’t have to…eat food.
I am no expert on raising a baby, so I’ve made a point to do exactly what the doctor tells me to do. He gave me a plan that seemed easy enough:
Week 1: 1 ounce oatmeal cereal with 1-2 ounces of water in the bottle 2x a day for 1 week
Week 2: 1-2 ounces of pureed veggies with 1-2 ounces of water in the bottle 2x a day for 1 week
Week 3: 1-2 ounces of pureed fruit with 1-2 ounces of water in the bottle 2x a day for 1 week
Week 4-5: Mix up your feeding, 2 oz solid food 2x a day with 1-2 ounces of water in the bottle 2x a day
Month 7: Introduce the sippy cup (with a straw)
Here is my issue: what if your baby seems totally satisfied with just milk and hates the oatmeal cereal? I was pretty desperate day 2 to try something different.
So I cheated. I broke the rules. I decided to mash up some avocado to see if little man liked that taste better. And we only made it to day 2 before I cheated…
He liked the taste, but to be honest with you, he liked the spoon better. I think he also enjoyed getting messy. Ahhhh, boys.
How about you? What troubles are you having/did you have in introducing solids? Any tips I should know of?
First off, love your blog 🙂 Second, docs just give us a guideline…they, unfortunately, are not (what we hope for them to be) baby-know-alls! 🙂 with that said, I literally never ever used “cereal” with my daughter. She only ate Gerber baby food (I tried to “make” food and literally had no time). I started with vegetables for the first month or so. I only gave her one jar per day because my doctor said its pretty much just to teach her to eat, not for nutrition purposes. I think we all get hooked on the fact that this is WHAT THE BABY NEEDS TO SURVIVE. It’s not. Your milk is plenty…they really don’t “need” table food until they’re 12 months. I also didn’t really give her water until she was close to 1 year. Again, my doc said my breast milk provided all the nutrients she needed. So, my suggestion is to just try different foods, don’t stress about water, how many times a day to feed him food, ya da ya da. I think 8-9 months is when my daughter was eating 3x per day (solids) but that was when she got used to it. And also sippy cups…do it when he’s ready. I, again, introduced that at 12 months cause I breast fed until then. I suggest Nuk brand sippy cups. They’re a good transition to “big kid” sippy cups, they have a handle, and they are still like a bottle because of their soft spout. Anyway, by no means am I an expert, but these are the things that worked for me so I thought I would pass along my tidbits! 🙂
Oooh I feel your pain. Introducing solids to our little one did NOT go as imagined/expected. BUT now, a month later, it is much better. Some days she eats 1 or 2 spoonfuls and some days she devours whatever is in front of her. No specific tips or tricks as every baby is different, but just wanted to encourage you that it DOES get better and easier and less stressful!