Griffin: solid food & other updates

Wow. I have been terrible about posting and there have been so many changes in the last few months! So here's a quick update...

Griffin is eating "people food" (as I call it) and loving it. He started with rice cereal at 5 months, and after his 6 month check-up was given the green light for everything else. I decided to make his food myself both to save money and to have discretion over the quality of ingredients. I also like to cook, and do almost every night for John and I, so it just made sense to cook for Griffin as well. I make batches of Griffin's food and freeze it in ice cube trays. That way I can pop out a few cubes each morning for his daily menu. I bought a cook book to help guide me (Cooking Light First Foods: Baby Steps to a Lifetime of Healthy Eating) and really like it.

So far Griffin has tried & enjoyed the following:

• peas
• carrots
• prune juice
• butternut squash
• bananas
• green beans
• apple juice
• avocado
• broccoli
• sweet potatoes

At first he wasn't too thrilled about the peas, but that was the first "people food" he tried and has since enjoyed them. Overall he is a great eater, but there is something that he really dislikes: beets. He shivered when I fed them to him and made a gagging face that I was sure would lead to vomiting. Luckily he didn't throw up, but now I have all these frozen beet-cubes that I have to mix in with other foods so he will eat them up! I do love introducing him to new veggies and fruits, and you win some, you lose some I guess!

Here's Griffin enjoying his peas!

Griffin is still on the small side, but he's been consistently small since we took him home from the hospital (hovering around the 5th percentile) so his doctor isn't worried. I was worried though, and decided to stop breast feeding at 6 months partly because I didn't enjoy it, and because I felt more comfortable knowing exactly how much he was eating at each feeding.

Other new developments for Griffin include sitting when placed in a sitting position (he still doesn't know how to get into a sitting position on his own, but will sit for a LONG time when placed there), and blowing raspberries. Griffin doesn't crawl yet, but he finds ways to move around just a little nonetheless. Most of his locomotion is based on rolling and squirming - and most of it is done when he is incredibly upset. He does this funny thing when on his tummy where it looks like he is trying to swim through the air. He balances on his belly and does the breast stroke - complete with frog-kick! I keep thinking he will start crawling any day now, but who knows.

In addition to his "outgoing smile," "shy smile" and myriad of upset faces, he has added sucking on his lower lip to his repertoire of facial expressions. This new maneuver makes him look like an old man especially since he still hasn't had any teeth break through. He's been chomping on his hands and drooling a bunch for 4 months now - pretty much since colic ended. He actually chews on his hands so hard that it makes a squeaking noise as if he were chewing on rubber, but has no pearly whites to show for it.

We were doing better with sleeping through the night a while back, but not so well in the last few days. Just a few weeks back, Griffin was sleeping from 7 or 8pm to 6am with a feeding in the late evening around 10pm. Now however, he has reverted back to waking around 2:30-3:30am sometimes, much to John and my chagrin. We try to let him cry through it, and sometimes he will fall back asleep, but wakes again less than an hour later. It's possible a series of trips have thrown him off, or perhaps he is getting ready to go through a growth spurt. Not really sure what the deal is there, but I am looking forward to figuring it out and getting continuous sleep again. His day time naps have improved immensely since the introduction of "people food" 2.5 months ago, and now his average nap is anywhere from 1 - 2.25 hours long! He only naps twice a day now and is much better at falling to sleep, but still fusses at least a little (sometimes a lot) every time.

I started using sign language with Griffin at about 5.5 months, but he hasn't started signing back. He thinks it is funny when I sign to him and giggles often, but at least he is paying attention! I am not sure he possesses the fine motor skills to sign yet, but I have to remind myself often to provide motivation for him to sign back as well. It's so much easier to guess at what he wants, rather than stop, ask him (verbally while signing), and wait for a response. Hopefully he will start signing soon; I think it will make things better for everyone.

I think that's all for now, but if we have a sudden break-through you might hear from me again soon!