He just loves it. He is happiest when a.) I am carrying him around b.) when he is eating. Eating anything.
Sam is eight months old now. He started eating (solids) when he was five months. That was not planned. It was entirely to get through the night so that I could function when I went back to teaching full time. I was told from helpful advice-givers to have him take a little bit of rice cereal before bed. Sam did not like this plan. He did not want to take rice cereal unless there was fruit mixed in. Against all intelligent parenting, we started with sweet fruits, cooked down apples and mashed banana with rice cereal. He was in heaven.
Everything about eating appeals to Sam.
When we first got out and assembled the high chair, it was so that Sam could be at our level. The floor, swing, baby bouncer, and the bassinette where not places that Sam liked to be. Propped in his high chair with rolled blankets, he would happily observe the world and the kitchen. Sam’s large brown eyes began to focus on his father’s sandwich, my iced coffees, and bottles were fascinating and thrilling, as he learned about food.
At four months old, at his great-uncle’s summer home, we sat by the pool. The large umbrella provided shade from the hot summer sun. Sam was not enticed by the light dancing on the blue of the pool or the flowers blooming on the bushes behind us, but by the shiny beer can placed on the glass table. He tried desperately to grab it.
Now, we sit him in the high chair and his face lights up. He beats his little hands on the plastic tray, demanding food. The puffed cereal container sits next to him, and he reaches for it, occasionally securing a grasp and pulling it onto his tray. A few times I have found a mound of cereal poured by a very excited baby as he wrestles with the plastic container. Sam loves to eat. He loves his veggies, his fruits, being spoon fed, and picking up food with his fingers. Chopped foods disappear at a high rate of speed. A few days ago he discovered a great ability to pick up more than one item at once to deliver it to his mouth.
A well-meaning friend offered to feed him one morning while I made pancakes. I handed her his cereal and fruit and a little rubber tipped spoon. She filled the spoon and ran it through the air like an airplane. Sam was not amused. He head dove for the spoon, which proceeded to zip away. Sam reached for the spoon, looking gravely at my friend. Finally the spoon reached his mouth, and went back to the bowl for another spoonful, then started the airplane ride again. Sam was not having fun with this activity. In his mind I am guessing, the food was being withheld. He let out a wail.
“I guess he doesn’t want to eat,” my friend commented.
“Hmm,” I said, “Perhaps a more direct route to his mouth, I think the airplane isn’t necessary.”
“Oh no,” she replied, “babies love this.”
Well maybe babies love it, but Sam wants food immediately, I thought. Poor guy, his face was scrunched up in frustration, his eyes trained on the food bowl and stagnant spoon. We switched, I fed Sam, she flipped pancakes.
It has gotten to the point where it is hard to eat in front of Sam, without him eating. If we want a snack, my husband and I take turns retreating to the kitchen, while Sam is otherwise occupied. The first time the child willfully crawled, was away from his aunt, to remove the top of my sandwich and insert it in his mouth, before either of us could stop him. He literally dove out of my arms once towards a brownie that my friend was eating. Luckily we were sitting on the couch at the time.
I am vaguely concerned that he might like his food too much, but with good habits set now (no brownies), lots of fruits and veggies, and specific mealtimes, I think it will be okay. Food is important in both sides of our family. I come from a family that always had mealtimes together, and still have Sunday dinners. The Italian side always welcomes people in their homes to eat. My husband’s family have gardens every summer and grown their own vegetables. He and I both enjoy cooking and sharing good meals.
I like to thank that Sam’s desire to eat is healthy. His chubby little face is content as he learns to enjoy mealtimes and he chats with pleasure as he feeds himself. He watches the people around him and tries to interact. I hope that family mealtimes are something that he continues when he is older. For now, the baby food I made this morning, that I was hoping would last a couple of weeks, will probably be eaten sooner, but that’s okay.