A meal fit for a king!

This past weekend, CJ hit a milestone - first solid food! Now, if someone had fed me the same mixture, I would have considered a liquid. In CJ's world, it was definitely thicker than his average meal.

After our four month check up a few weeks ago, we had been trying to decide when to start CJ on solid foods. While I was excited, the thought of adding something else to the mix was a little intimidating. After all, I can handle making a bottle! Once we start on solids, there is no turning back. As you probably know, CJ is quite the eater, and it became clear that he was ready to try some rice cereal. We figured that we'd give it a shot. If he didn't respond well, then we would just wait a week or two and then try again.

Yesterday, we got him up and started the preparations. You would have thought we were fixing him a steak dinner for as much effort as we put into this process. Matt got him ready while I concocted CJ's breakfast of champions. Then, the moment arrived. Matt brought him down and put him in his high chair (which has an awesome recline feature). I let Matt handle the first bites while I took care of the video and pictures. Bite one...gobbled it up! I don't think he really knew what it was at first, but that didn't stop him from wanting more. In fact, he literally would start crying in between bites because we were taking too long. If you've seen pictures of CJ recently, you would know that he is far from starving, so it was a little comical that he would get so upset.



He finished all of the cereal we had prepared and would probably have gone for seconds if we had allowed it. Instead, he washed it down with the rest of his bottle.



Success! We got video footage, great pictures, and not as much mess as we had anticipated. Our little man is a great eater!



This morning was day two of the rice cereal experience. Not only did he gobble it up again, he opened up his mouth every time the spoon got close. It was hilarious to watch. We still have to wait a few days to make sure that the cereal doesn't have any adverse affects on his digestive system. If everything works the way it is supposed to, then we'll add a second meal each day.

We've made the cereal pretty thin these first two days, so the next step will be to thicken it up a bit. Soon enough, we will be adding veggies and fruits to the mix. I'm still trying to decide whether or not I should make my own baby food, or just buy it. I know how much money it would save to make our own, but am I willing to invest the time. My cheapness is leaning toward making my own, but we'll see.

I will admit that I had a moment this morning. While I was spooning in the rice cereal, I realized that he is growing up. He even looked like a little man sitting in his high chair. One step at a time, he is moving farther away from being a baby. Exciting and sad, all at the same time.