The start of Jessie Led Weaning

We're not really supposed to be offering Jess food yet but as she's stolen a few bits off my plate we just thought we'd go along with it and see how things go. At the moment she doesn't get offered three meals a day but if she's awake and we're eating something suitable she can join in. Just to update, we're doing this hippy method of weaning which means Jess eats what we eat, no purees, no force feeding. Her main source of nutrition til she's got to grips with food is boob juice so hopefully weaning will be a fun journey into the delights of food and not a three times a day struggle to force mush down her throat. The only things that are out are excessive quantities of salt or sugar or anything she might choke on (biggish bits of nuts and seeds) which gives us quite a bit of scope!

So far she's had orange (which she adores), dates (maybe not the best plan, I have yet to find out!), tomato, avocado, cheese, cake, toast and butter, banana, scotch pancake, cous cous, pasta with tomato sauce, hummus, ice cream, yogurt (she actually sucked it off the lid, very cool!), cherries, nectarine, strawberries, cucumber and courgette. For the most part she has a suck and a gum of things just to get to grips with textures, tastes and how to pick things up but a lot of the fruit gets yummed up!

The only problem is the mess, which isn't really a problem because what gets dropped on the floor can be picked up again! And Jess can obviously be held under a tap to get her clean.... I've found that to save on washing eating half naked is better, skin being wipe cleanable, although food gets everywhere when they DIY! But as she can't sit up properly and can only be propped in the highchair for short periods (and some might say not at all!) she does a lot of her eating on my knee and happy as I am to be filthy dirty I have a real problem with being sticky and a baby sucking banana out of your hand brings a whole new meaning to the word! Although it is a good excuse for us to share a bath after tea....

The best bit of all this though is the faces she makes, my favourite being mouth hanging open, slight frown and a general how dare you poison me aura. Usually accompanied by a urrrrgggghhhh sound. Bizarrely this doesn't mean she hates it and she will go back for more!

 Jess getting to grips with avocado.

In other news, we've done a bit of swimming which she does seem to enjoy! We usually go with my incredibly lovely friend who sits in the coffee shop with her so I can do lengths for half an hour (bliss), then he swims while Jess and I bob about in the toddlers pool. We've also been with my Cousin and her bundle of joy who's a water babies baby and can apparently go underwater! I'm very impressed by this but haven't had the guts to dunk Jess yet although god knows why, seeing as I dropped her twice in the bath earlier and she managed not to inhale any!

We've (I've) also designed a nappy.... I have had ever more adventures in the world of nappies since my last post and my dear sister has introduced me to a website called wee notions (see links). It seems to be a family thing, when we find things we want but can't afford and /or don't need we like to tell as many people as possible to share the pain as it were. Anyway, on wee notions you can design your own nappy and they will make it and send it to you. And my god these things are exquisite. Needless to say, I couldn't really afford one and I definitely don't need one but I've ordered one anyway. It will arrive in a few weeks and I promise to post a photo as soon as I have it on the child!