Starting solids - a long story about something not terribly important

I didn't even realize this weekend was a wild party weekend until I started seeing all the green outfits pop up in my Instagram feed. Oh, how times have changed. 

Our wild partying.

In news that will surprise no one, I've been agonizing over a decision that is really not that important, and neither fork in the road seems to lead to negative consequences. When to start solids? I spent a day asking everyone with kids at work and no one whose kids were over two even remembered because again, not important. But that's how I roll.

Most kids start between 4-6 months. At Dalton's four month appointment, the pediatrician said we could start rice cereal at five months, but there was really no reason to rush since he was gaining weight well and thriving. At first I was really excited and couldn't wait to get started. Then, I did more internet research, which is a terrible idea. First of all, rice cereal has arsenic and will kill your baby. If anyone says their baby ate it, and their baby is with them, clearly they are lying. 

Naturally, you can find tons of support for why starting at various ages is definitely terrible and sure to result in ruining your kid for life. I've already done tons of things that will ensure his downfall, so I ignored all that. I did find some resources that outlined signs of readiness for solids. Dalton didn't seem to have many of those, and he also didn't seem interested when we would sit him with us while we ate. Because of that, we held off. 

A story all upstate NY-ers can appreciate - I told my mom we were waiting until six months and that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that. She thought I said Wegmans recommended that and was like "oh, yeah, ok that makes sense then". If Wegmans could offer literature on parenting advice, I would follow that exclusively and be set for life.

You would think with the decision being made that we were waiting until six months, the agonizing would be done, but you would be wrong. There are endless decisions to mentally grapple with! Next up: what food to start with?

Obviously rice cereal was out. I bought baby oatmeal, but after talking to some other moms and reading up on my friend's awesome resources, we decided to start with vegetables instead. I kind of struggle with being a rule follower, like I was just telling Eric how we got these "To Do" list pads a few years ago at work and all the time I see people just using them as regular paper and NOT even writing any sort of list, much less a To Do list, and he knew without me even telling him how much that upset me. The point is that I was really having trouble going "against" what the doctor said to start with. 

We planned to start next weekend, right before Dalton hits 6 months (that's on a weekday and those are too rushed to take such a monumental step). We were cooking green beans as a side for last night's dinner, and I told Eric I was going to puree some and freeze them for Dalton.

Our green beans

His green beans

 He got all disappointed when I said I was going to freeze them and was all like "oh man, I thought he was going to eat with us tonight!", so we decided to go for it.

First of all, Eric demanded his turkey/egg/hamburger meal be shared on the blog. 

He should have taken a better picture.

Let's do this thing!

He didn't hate it!

He grabbed the spoon and did this - however, he tends to put everything in his mouth, so it may have been meaningless.

First family dinner with all 3 of us eating!

I wasn't sure what to expect. He seemed mainly confused, but didn't make faces or spit it out or anything. We estimate he ate about 1/4 of a green bean in total.

I'm pretty excited to get to experiment with all different foods with him, but it's a little bittersweet. Up until now, he's been 100% dependent on me for nutrition, hydration, and survival in general. I know 1/4 of a green bean doesn't change that, but that's where we are heading and eventually he won't need me for survival. During state testing, when I basically just have to walk in circles in silence for 70-90 minutes, I was having a panicked "he's leaving me and he'll have his own family and never even call!" moment. Which is ridiculous, because by the time he's old enough to do that there's no way we will still be using phones for phone calls. We barely even do that now.

I also devoted part of my weekend to a social media crusade against United Airlines. My friend flew with her baby, two weeks older than Dalton, and when they arrived, she found her car seat straps had been slashed! She was stranded at the airport, with no safe way to transport her infant, and United said "tough luck" and left to her to figure it out herself. My other friend Kari, of former blogging fame, wrote this Buzzfeed article about it. It got over 1,000 views within just a couple hours, so feel free to check it out, share it, or tweet at United with the hashtag #replacethecarseatunited.

What were your exciting St. Patrick's Day plans? Dalton ate a green food, and also I'm making Shepard's pie on the actual day.

When did your kid start solids and what food did they start with? Do you even remember?