b e n j a m i n f a l k e n b e r g

And this time it’s peas… Zachary’s first ‘real’ solid food not counting rice cereal.

It went really well; he really enjoyed the peas, happily smacking his lips with each spoonful. His reaction to the first taste was more like “hey, what IS that, I don’t know that!”, but he had already recovered by his very next bite.

We’ll do peas for a few more days (4 days per food starting out, according to the pediatrician, to stay on top of any possible allergic reactions), and then switch it up a bit with some sweet potatoes or something.

And in case you’ve forgotten or are trying to remember, Benjamin’s first real food was peas, too…

And yes, Zachary is six months old today, too. Where does the time go?

…his first rice cereal!

It wasn’t much earlier tonight, but it was enough. About a tablespoon of dry rice cereal, mixed with breastmilk, fairly thinly. For his first time, it probably seemed like a lot to him! He wasn’t quite as adept as Benjamin was at taking it in his first time, but he did a pretty good job for his first time.

Benjamin started rice cereal right around five months, too. And yeah, our pediatrician told us at four months to start, with both kids, but we waited both times because we’ve read solids shouldn’t start until at least six months, or later. Both were (and Zachary continues to be) breastfed, so we feel fine with it all.

Anyway, we’re pretty excited to be moving into Zachary’s next big phase of existence.

The hair…has been cut!

It wasn’t really THAT long… but there were some ‘wings’ that were sticking out behind his ears that were apparently driving his mother crazy.

Twelve bucks and literally about twelve snips later, we were done. He sat in Stacey’s lap, and didn’t raise a stink, cry, moan, wiggle around, nothing. He sat there, very politely, and let the stylist cut his hair. She even went around his ears and his neck with an electric trimmer, too, and he was fine with all of it.

After dinner he had a brownie with some cocoa buttercream frosting…his “birthday cake”, basically. He didn’t really care for it… It’s really the first sweet thing other than fruit that he’s had. He seemed to be OK with the brownie itself, but the frosting…not so much; he was mostly making funny ‘what the..?’-style faces when he got some in his mouth.

Stacey and I noticed we didn’t have any candles, so we stuck a lit wooden matchstick in his brownie instead. Actually, we went through about three of them by the time we got all the pictures taken…

All in all, a very good day! We’re having a small party on Saturday for him yet, too. Should be fun!

This morning Dad’s working at his desk when he hears a repetitive noise behind him; he’s not sure what it is, so of course he turns to look…

It’s Benjamin, CLAPPING. We’ve been practicing clapping with him a little bit, but this was the first time he’s really done it on his own, deliberately, that we’ve noticed. He was watching his hands, as if studying the movements and the resulting sounds; it was very, very cute.

He went in for his nine-month wellness check with the pediatrician today, too. Stats:

• height: 28.5 inches tall
• weight: 19 lbs 15 ounces
• head: 18 inches around

Everything went well; he’s average weight, and slightly above-average height.

We were asked a number of questions about his development, and the only question we couldn’t answer yes to was “does he wave goodbye to people?”. He really doesn’t, but he also doesn’t really ever see Mom or Dad leave separately. Well, occasionally, but not that often…not often enough that he would have a lot of practice with the goodbye-waving, in any case. We do practice with him when we’re out and he’s socializing with other parents and kids at a store or something, and around his relatives.

The funny thing? Tonight, just a few hours after his doctor visit, Mom was taking him to bed, and he waved goodnight to his Dad! Very deliberate, and he even repeated it a few moments later. VERY COOL! We also blow kisses at him, so we figure he’ll pick that up on his own at some point soon, too. Very exciting!

He got his second flu shot today. Must have been a clean stick, as he barely cried. He takes shots pretty well.

He started calling his Mom “mama” a couple days ago! Dad’s with him most of the time during the day, so Dad’s kinda bummed it wasn’t “Dada”, but Dad will survive. ;) In the meantime, since he’s figured it out, Mom’s feeling both excited and a little frustrated, because he wants her ALL the time now, and there’s no denying it when he’s asking for her BY NAME. Hah!

He’s also able to take a few steps walking now! He walked about 5 steps tonight for Mom during the football game, before he plopped onto his butt, but it’s progress!

Stuff that makes parents so proud…

He’s moved on to stage-three baby foods and table foods now, too. There are of course a handful of foods he still can’t eat, to avoid potential allergies, but not a big deal… We’re eager to get away from the baby foods and let him start eating “real” foods.

He’s also been teething like CRAZY, and overnights haven’t been very fun… He’s got about 6 teeth now, and he’s gnawing on everything, and drooling like a maniac…

It was great, but a little overwhelming in the end for Benjamin, with it spread out over a couple locations and several days.

Thanks to everyone for their kind words about his growth and development and everything. :)

Benjamin enjoyed some sweet potatoes, some turkey, mashed potatoes, and a few other traditional items… Oh, and PUMPKIN PIE! He ate nearly half of his Dad’s piece!

We’re looking forward now to Christmas!

Hopefully everyone’s having a great holiday season. We look forward to seeing and hearing from all of you. :)

OK, so he’s eating solids, and eating quite well. That’s great. He’s also teething, and that’s great too… but he’s soooooo messy now when he eats!

He’s recently decided that he should stick his left thumb or another finger (but 90 percent of the time, it’s his left thumb) in his mouth after he gets a spoonful of food–before he’s chewed, swirled or swallowed the food at all–and suck on that digit until the cows come home.  And in the process of doing this, he ends up slathering food all over himself, the table, his Bumbo seat… Our favorite places to find food after a meal is in his ears or in clumps in his hair.

Oh–eating now takes forever!

It’s something to do with teething, we’re told, but we watch him make a HUGE mess and while it’s sort of endearing and funny to watch, you then realize he’s not someone else’s kid and that it’s happening to you, and it’s your mess to clean up… At that point, you feel like you’re regressing somehow with his feedings and learning to eat.

We’re trying really hard not to take the whole thing too seriously or personally, but wow!