Solid Gone

Ryder, who has been the best sleeper in the world, started waking up two or three times at night. So I decided it was time to start him on the rice cereal. I really didn't want to do this yet. I read about a study that linked babies eating solid foods early to obesity, which had made me feel like a good parent for not starting Kendra on solid food until the day before her 6-month check-up. But my reasons for putting it off had nothing to do with that-- it's actually because I'm just lazy. I hate spooning food into a baby's mouth. I think it's my own fault-- I spoon-fed Bentley for way too long simply because I didn't want too big of a mess to clean up. And then by the time Kendra was old enough for real food, Bentley wanted me to keep feeding him because he didn't want the mess, either! So I spent a long time feeding two toddlers and completely burned myself out on it.

Which was why I had no intention of starting Ryder before he hit the 6-month mark.

But getting woken up that much was killing me, especially on some really special nights when Bentley or Kendra (or one time, both of them!) woke up in the night, too. Then I was pretty much a zombie. I think the worst was the morning when I almost cried as I sat feeding Ryder (again). That was the morning that Craig very gently mentioned that, even though I was exhausted, I should really try hard not to yell at the kids all day. I would have punched him if he hadn't been so right. As it was, it was really good advice, and I mostly heeded it.

Looking shocked by the solid food!

So with me slowly losing whatever semblance of sanity that I might have had with each passing night, Craig and I agreed that something had to be done.

So on Saturday I bought a box of rice cereal.

And then happy about it

And Ryder LOVES it. He's my first kid to actually eat the stuff on the first try! The other two both looked disgusted and vaguely insulted by the whole ordeal. I think part of the reason Ryder did so well was because (and I'm kind of proud of myself for thinking of this) I gave him spoons to play with in the last couple weeks leading up to his first feeding. So the feel of a metal spoon in his mouth didn't bother him at all. (I finally had to feed Kendra by putting rice cereal on my finger, she was so confused by that spoon!)

And an action shot

I should point out the irony-- it took Ryder forever to learn how to nurse properly. Even now he gets so easily distracted that I have to shoo the other kids out of the room if I want there to be any hope of him getting a good meal. But give the kid some rice cereal and he just goes to town!

While I'm going on and on about Ryder, I should also mention that he's also been rolling over about once a day. Not super consistent, but he's definitely getting it. These little babies learn so much so quickly!