A Whole New World

It’s hard for me to believe (though it is at every one of these milestones) that Evangeline is old enough to be sitting up in a high chair, feeding herself. She’s grown so much over the past 6 weeks that she’s effectively gone from infant stage to the happiest-baby-on-the-planet stage.

At her four month well check, our pediatrician recommended starting her on solids as it made sense with her development and our schedules. Jack and Zoe both started solids at four months and Beau at 6 months, and while I think they all seemed ready when we started, I wanted to hold out with Evvie for as long as possible. Solid foods are such a huge developmental milestone and I just wasn’t ready to be there with my fourth baby. I was waiting for her to be able to sit up strongly and be able to bring things to her mouth with ease before introducing finger foods and pureed vegetables. Those things seemed to appear about her overnight, and we found ourselves somewhat unprepared to have another child eating with us at the dinner table.

Evvie began reaching for my food one night, and without planning or even having a high chair set up for her, I mushed up some avocado, sat her in her Bumbo seat and introduced her to the wonderful world of vegetables. This is one of my favorite stages; Six months is all about discovery. She is bright-eyed and engaged in everything we are doing. Having three older siblings, life is full of constant movement and she will not be missing one second of it. Her smiles and laughter are completely infectious, and it’s all I can do to keep myself from being fully engrossed in everything about her, every waking moment. She is such a delight, day in and day out.

While I couldn’t wait for this stage to present itself, I was completely happy maintaining my sweet little baby in her exclusively breastfed infancy. Still, watching her grow and develop steadily and allowing her to lead the way towards starting solids has been the most natural process. I made the first trip to the grocery store after that first night and gathered all the veggies I could carry in preparation for steaming, pureeing and canning. I wasn’t prepared for how completely easy it would be with the Vitamix blender-is it possible to be over prepared to be underworked? The overall process was so easy, from steaming to blending, pouring and cleanup. I am amazed daily at how this appliance has changed our lives for the better.

My freezer has seen better days, but I am so thrilled with the bounty of options that we have stockpiled for Evvie’s new adventure in food land: Zucchini, pear, butternut squash, yam, peas, carrots and spinach/apple.

She was a little unsure about the foods in the beginning, but for her it’s evident that just being at the table with us is really the coolest thing ever. She nearly jumps out of her skin at the chance to be doing the same things that her siblings are doing, and the twinkle in her eye is completely infectious. We are all just having the best time with our sweet baby girl.

The bananas are cubed and coated in wheat germ to make them a little bit more tacky for little fingers to be grabbing. I swear, I could do this all day with her.

There’s a couple of recipes that I’m eager to try for her, one of them being homemade kale and spinach teething “cookies”.  When I get around to it, I’ll try to make them and share if they turn out. Until then, I’ll be here fawning over my littlest and her mega fantastic milestones.