Ready, Set, Eat

Six minutes. That's the time it takes Grayson to polish off a small container of sweet potatos, squash, carrots, green beans, peas, or bananas. I can barely keep the spoon moving fast enough to keep his temper from flaring.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

He liked the rice cereal from the get go, but with each new solid he samples, he grows hungrier, faster and more demanding. I sometimes wonder where he puts it. His little stomach can't be that big, can it? Despite my wonder, though, he puts it away each day, allowing me not to take my attention off his mouth, his food and the spoon. It's a six minute dash between the three.

At his four month checkup, I confessed to the pediatrician he had already been introduced to cereal. "How much should I let him have?", I asked him. We finish his quarter cup or so, and he sits there looking at me as if to say, "Where's the rest, lady?" I was apprehensive to give him much more for fear of what, I'm not sure, but hesitant none the less.

"Give him whatever amount he wants," was his response. "Be sure to nurse him before and after the solids to assure yourself that he's getting full." The only negative side effect we'll see, he said, is constipation. Okay, I guess if he wants to constipate himself, we'll deal with that next. For now, he gets a little more each morning until we reach a point where he can't put it away (note: hasn't happened yet).

In the meantime, we stepped it up a notch to three meals of solids each day hoping to satisfy his appetite. Cereal and bananas or prunes (LOVES THE PRUNES) for breakfast, pears and carrots or peas for lunch, and green beans and oatmeal for a senior citizens' dinner.

My guess is he will keep up the pace, the only question that remains is if my spoon can keep up.