first food

Oliver had his first taste of food this weekend. Yesterday morning actually. He is about 5 and a half months old now. I suppose this comes as 'late' for some people. But neither of us were in any hurry to give him foods. I've been exclusively breast-feeding him since birth. And I love it. I love how he looks up at me, how he makes little noises, and sighs and smiles. Having his warm little body next to me is so wonderfully yummy. I think I will always look back at this time and smile with the genuine bonding that comes from it all. Not that I thought this way about breast-feeding while I was pregnant. No, I actually had so many doubts about nursing.
Would I be able to?
Would my son take to it?
Would it be hard?
Would it be awkward-socially?
Would it hurt?
On and on. I always had the thought that I would definitely try and if it didn't work well there was always a bottle of formula.
That all changed when he was born. I'm not sure what made me so gung ho about breast only, but I decided and determined (once I make up my mind about something it's hard to change!) to breast-feed. I prayed it would work out. And I was blessed by God to be able to enter into nursing easily. Oliver latched on from the beginning. And while I'd say it took a good two months to get in a good groove- a comfortable one too- it has been a great experience. And easy too!
He has never shown hunger signs (and it shows in his rolls) so I felt no need to rush foods. But he has been watching us intently and we thought we would try some food to see what he did.
Choosing the right food was a whole different thing. I finally decided to give him real food instead of tasteless rice cereal. Even though I have a box of organic rice cereal eagerly waiting us in the pantry....hmm what to do with that now.
I roasted and pureed some butternut squash and gave it to Oliver warm. He loved it. He actually lurched for the spoon. Well it could be the fact he lurches for anything to go in his mouth these days...but he ate some and seemed okay with it.
So we did it- we entered into the great big world of foods. We are still not rushing him to eat, since he is still nursing. We are just trying a little here and there. It's so much fun to see how he reacts to new things. He is so easygoing and I am grateful for that. Jonah is so easygoing too...must be like father like son. Oh how I love my men!
And here is my little man, loving his squash.