He Ain't No Bugs

We were reminded by the pediatrician at our last visit (when gabe was five months old) that if he is responsive to baby rice cereal, to start him on potatoes and carrots. Gabe has been eating very well, currently taking four heaped tablespoonfuls of cereal at each meal, and most times he'd still open his mouth for more. And it'll all go down in about 15 minutes or less. He's easy to feed, and I thank God that he has inherited this from derod. Yeah... he's no doubt derod's son in that manner! I was a terrible eater, starting before the table was laid and still sulking at the unfinished plate after all the washing up is over.

I began my quest to try him on the two mentioned veggies when he was four and a half months old. Potatoes first, as advised by many baby cook books, since it has a mild taste and is probably closest to tasting like milk. Its preparation is supposed to be as easy as abc: just cut up the potato into cubes, steam them till they're really soft, pass them through a sieve and add milk to it if necessary till it reaches the desired texture. Sounds cool? Yeah! Until I tried it... the sterilization of utensils and especially the mashing through the sieve... it was a workout, no less. I had prepared a large batch and frozen portions enough for the next few days only to get endless chidings from my mum on how babies should be given fresh food at every meal, reminding me that my own nanny had cooked two meals of porridge over charcoal fire every day just so that I could be given the best of nutrition and to ensure that "wind" doesn't accumulate in my tummy due to such overnight food.

So I put on some determination and set out to cook a meal of potatoes for my son every day, and this routine went on for... one day. Back when this happened, he was not used to sitting on his own for a long stretch while I was busy preparing the food. Juggling between a crying fella and boiling water wasn't fun and that kind of put me off the endeavor quite a bit, not to mention the state I was in after the workout. So after consultation with experienced mothers, I decided to stick with baby rice cereal and upgrade him to two meals a day when he was ready. At this stage, gabe had already tried potatoes for about three days, perhaps sufficient to determine him not allergic to it.

But, with the visit to the pediatrician, I thought it would be time to try out the carrots and him being older, was able to sit longer and watch all the action in great curiosity. Carrots proved harder than potatoes and it was a greater workout, mashing the stuff through the sieve. But it all turned out as it should in a bowl and I fed it to gabe.

He gave that same "urgh!!!!" expression to the first taste of the orange stuff as he would to anything unusual. But that look persisted in the next few spoonfuls, and along with each one, a look that said all of the following:
1. I want to spit this stuff out
2. What is this disgusting thing? Think think think...
3. Should I even swallow it?

As if the above wasn't enough, he was rather unwilling to open his mouth to receive a next spoonful and at one point, kicked both legs in frustration. I decided to stop the ordeal and we're back to cereals haha. Well, makes both baby and mummy happy, since I won't have to go through carrots again too. We'll have another go at it in another form - when he hits six months, it can all be thrown into the slow cooker together with the real rice!