Today, we gave Molly her first crack at “solid” food. By solid, I mean a mushy mass of rice cereal and formula that would make oatmeal look like a cake. Still, it was a big step. Molly had recently taken special interest in the stuff we are always putting into our mouths and not taking back out, aka food. It must almost seem like a magic trick to her.

This was a whole-family event. Claire was super excited about Molly trying solids. She understandably thought that rice cereal was some sort of breakfast cereal and suggested that she and Molly have it in the morning. At her request, we did make some rice cereal for Claire to try it out and help encourage Molly. Claire was not impressed but did eat some just out of pure enthusiasm. She made a point of showing Molly how to do it, eating it with big sweeping motions. Kit then gave Molly a spoonful of the mush, and Molly took a bite. She seemed surprised but excited by it. Of course, she ended up pushing most of the mush out with her tongue, but it was a good start. We kept this up for another few minutes, and Molly ended up doing a little better keeping the food down. She really had fun with it and seemed to think the whole thing was sort of a game. Also, she seemed to feel important and grown-up sitting up in the new Bumbo seat that Kit had picked up just that day just for this occasion.

For the record, while Molly enjoyed her rice cereal, the rest of the family dined on
enchilada casserole, thanks to the Soup Peddler. Claire was not excited about the food and tried to help out by putting it back in the kitchen before even taking a solitary bite. We convinced her to try three bites, and which point she realized it was pretty good and went ahead and ate the whole thing.