First Swim

We took Daniel to the Campus Hills Recreation Center in Durham today for his first swim. He enjoyed it so much. He giggled, splashed, and kicked. We look forward to swimming with him as much as possible.

Messy Eater

Lately Daniel has been refusing food by spoon. He wants to eat with his hands and do everything by himself. So, I cooked Aunt Judy and Uncle David's butterbeans and some baby carrots in the crock pot for hours and hours until I could mash them between my fingers. I also boiled whole wheat macaroni noodles until they were large and soft. I can put those things on the high chair tray, and he can eat them all by himself. I pinch off small pieces of carrot, and I smoosh the butterbeans in half. He enjoys this a lot; these foods, along with whole wheat bread, cheerios, and avocado have been his meals this week. On Monday Daniel visited our neighbors while I was recuperating from my sore back. He came home with a container of sweet potatoes they had shared at lunch. He LOVES sweet potatoes. If you follow this blog, you know the mess we got into earlier with sweet potatoes. I decided to give him a small portion and watch the results. He ate them from a spoon with no problem. He loved them, of course, and his output seemed fine. This morning I was going to give him some more for breakfast (from a spoon). When he saw the container he started making his happy food sounds. He would not touch ANY of the other food after he saw the sweet potatoes. I offered him some from a spoon, but he wanted to do it himself. I knew we would be in for a mess, so I stripped him down to his diaper and plonked a big spoonful on his tray, in the midst of the noodles, butterbeans, and carrots. HE LOVED IT! He used his hands to make a big glob of everything, and he ate it all. Cleanup took longer than usual, but I eventually got him clean. Here are some shots of our food adventure. I can't WAIT for warmer weather; I'll just put him in the yard and hose him down at the end of the meal!