Finger Food!
How quickly things change!
A few short weeks ago, I was despairing of ever introducing the Pickle to finger foods, and now, suddenly, he loves them. It was like a switch was turned on - it happened that fast. One day he would do nothing but gaze disinterestedly at the lovingly sliced pieces of banana I had laid out before him. Now, at breakfast-time, he eyes my bagel and pitches a minor fit if I don’t offer him at least a handful of Cheerios to nibble on. Purees from a spoon are becoming increasingly passé as well - he’ll still take sweet potato mush from a spoon, but he’d rather have a hunk of it to gnaw on himself.
Yesterday at brunch with my parents, he was introduced to home fries (with the skins and the bits of rosemary painstakingly removed by yours truly) - YUM. Today at brunch (multiple brunches per weekend is all the reason I need to have visitors over) he nibbled on a piece of toasted brioche (with the crusts torn off). Also YUM. He is absolutely determined to master the whole Cheerio thing - once in his mouth, he knows how to chew and swallow (you don’t need teeth to chew a Cheerio), but the pincer grasp required to pick one up and get it there is still a bit of a challenge.
I’m looking forward to introducing him to noodles, and silken tofu. And re-introducing him to all the foods he currently knows only as purees - green beans, peas, squash, peaches, pears, apples. With a few exceptions (due to the prevalence of food allergies in my family), I can now make his dinner out of whatever we’re having for ourselves, which means less shopping. At restaurants, he can now have soft bread even if the kitchen doesn’t have a banana or an avocado they can slice up. It’s a wonderfully freeing thing, the ability to chew and swallow.