The other night Josie tried apples. I had bought baking apples because I was going to bake them. But upon tasting it, I remembered that the reason that they are baking apples is that you are expected to dump sugar on them to counteract their tartness. Josie did not appreciate the apple too much that night. Tonight on the other hand she heartily approved of the golden delicious apple I had prepared for her. She ate it double-fisted.

We also used our new clamp-on baby seat for this meal and she seems to enjoy it. We’ll be using it as needed for holiday travel and it’s pretty dang convenient. It gets her right up to the table which makes it much easier for her to eat off the table compared with the usual restaurant high chairs. I even used it in the kitchen today to clamp her to the counter while I entertained her cooked right in front of her.

Today Josie tried some banana. She was raring to eat and grabbed the banana before we even got the tray all the way on her high chair. Again she picked it up no problem and put it in her mouth and made a big face of ‘ewww what did you just give me?’ that she seems to make the first time with all new foods. She was very eager with the banana, probably a little too eager, as she managed to make herself gag and choke on it unlike with the carrots and sweet potatos. After the third time she gagged, even on the totally mushed up banana on a spoon, and I fished the food out of her mouth we decided she was done. We will try again tomorrow. Jordi thinks the banana might not have been ripe enough, he prefers his bananas much more brown on the outside than I do.

This past Monday we started Josie on steamed carrots. I think she was surprised that something that looked so similar to her sweet potatos didn’t taste and handle the same way. The first night she was not into them at all and balked at how they tasted but by Wednesday (picture below) she was grabbing them and taking small bites like a pro. I think she even likes them now even though I burned them (don’t ask how you burn steamed carrots… I need more sleep).

See her eat them in action on Monday:

I really liked this soup that I made yesterday and it’s really simple to make in conjunction with steamed squash. Pretty much you chop onion, cook, chop squash and cook it till it’s done. Put a steamer on top of the pot of soup as it boils with other pieces of squash to steam for baby.

• 1 butternut squash, peeled
• Nutmeg
• Cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Salt and pepper
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6 cups chicken/veggie stock
• Maple syrup (~2Tbsp)

Cut squash into 1-inch chunks. In large pot melt butter. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add squash and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until squash is tender (I think I cooked mine around 30 minutes). Purree soup with an immersion blender or pull out the chunks to purree in a blender. Stir and season with nutmeg, cinnamon, maple syrup, salt, and pepper to taste.

Last night we started Josie off on her first solid food, yams. Somehow I couldn’t find sweet potato’s in the store, so yams it was! We are following the baby-led weaning approach to eating which basically means we put very soft french-fry shaped finger food in front of her from day 1 and let her decide what to eat and how much. She was definitely ready as she was interested in the food and picked it up like a champ. She had a little trouble with not shutting her hand completely and squishing the yam out of it. But she definitely got a bunch of it in her mouth and swallowed as evidenced by her output this morning. Initially I think she was overwhelmed at all the cameras pointed at her as the food was put in front of her! The high chair unfortunately seemed to get a bit in the way with the big straps and the high table part, she was much more excited and quick to grab and shove the yams in her mouth once I put her on my lap and the yam on the table in front of her. It wasn’t as messy as I had feared, although the cats all came over to check out the goods on the floor.

I went a little nuts with the cooking yesterday and cooked all day long when Josie would let me and so the adults had quite a feast (*relative to normal dinners of mac + cheese or takeout which are more common now) as well. We had yam pie, yam, spinch, carmelized onions and fresh mozzarella pizza, and butternut squash soup. I hope to continue making double duty out of making food for Josie and food for us, such as the baked yam’s that made their way into her dinner and our dinner and dessert. The butternut squash soup happened because they were cheap at the store, it would also be a great baby/adult meal with steamed squash for the baby and soup for the adults, it was really easy once you’ve put in the effort to peel and chop the squash already. I’ll post that recipe later.

Josie’s verdict on the yams: not loving them, not hating them. The only time she spit anything out was when she bit off a chunk of yam, otherwise she seemed interested but not thrilled. We’ll try again tonight, maybe she’ll like them more.