Baby Steaks

I have to break this blog silence to write about two totally unrelated things that have altered my perception on life, in two separate posts:

• The amazingness that is my baby eating steak.
• A short history of being shot at.

I'll take the first one first, because you'll just skip it if I start talking about the shooting. I wouldn't blame you. But, really, you want to hear about this baby. It's not even the baby, really, even though he is cute and (of course) way smart, just like your baby is, or your sister's baby. All babies are smart, which is sort of the point of this story.

I wrote a while back about trusting my baby to be able to learn, to disavow the notion that babies are just lumps with static noise buzzing about in their heads. I have never been more convinced than I am right now, as I sit with my six-month-old at the dining table watching him eat a piece of steak.

Rather than start with pureed food, like we did with Jupiter, we decided to try the baby-led solids approach with George. The idea is that you feed your baby what you're eating, minus the salt, without altering it from its whole form. Although George has six teeth, teeth aren't required for this method of feeding - toothless babies can make do with the bony ridges under their gums. So George is eating a strip of steak, about finger-sized. He's not biting it off, but rather sucking it dry, getting all the good stuff that steak juice contains. He's also eating a hunk of sweet potato and a stalk of broccoli. There are some great resources out there about what is usually termed baby-led weaning or baby-led solids, like this one and this one. Our goal was to give George a chance at avoiding membership in his brother's anti-vegetable, anti-strange, anti-anything-that-isn't-bread-or-cheese campaign. So far, it's working. He has eaten all manner of things, from chicken and steak to broccoli and green beans, from pears to kiwi.

But the most amazing part about this process isn't the amusement and joy that I derive from having my tiny human join us for dinner, though not having to spend time preparing and spoon-feeding purees is a huge benefit. It's not even the incredible cute factor of watching your baby stuff a giant broccoli floret into his maw. Exhibit A:

The most amazing part is the learning. At first, three weeks ago, George could hardly pick anything up from his tray. I would hand things to him, he would sort of get them into his mouth, and then drop them. Over and over. If something made it into his mouth, he would sort of gum it for a bit and then it would fall back out. He didn't eat much that first week, and some babies don't eat much for quite a while. Just the experience of food, with its smells and textures, is worth trying it for these babies.

So George has been learning about food, but he has also been working, so hard, on his coordination. He can now pick things up, even slippery things. He can even sort work with smaller pieces, having figured out how to empty his fist once it's at his mouth. He has started chewing (chewing!) and swallowing his food, and he has not once gagged in a way that made me worried. So much learning going on. And he loves eating. Loves it. Bangs his tray until the food gets there. Really, this is so much fun.