Mary has tried mashed banana a few times and still doesn't seem to like them. I believe the only things she hasn't liked on her increasing list of food adventures are bananas and pears.
Last night I had a mother's evening out in which Mary and I went to dinner at The Olive Garden while Chris took John on errands. Mary really enjoyed the creamy smoked cheese and sun-dried tomato sauce on my ravioli--another spicy flavor! I realized afterward that a cream sauce probably falls in the category of "cow's milk" which shouldn't be introduced this early, but I figured no harm was likely to befall her from the quarter teaspoon she ate.
This morning for breakfast she enjoyed onion-roasted sweet potatoes (mashed and thinned).
Mary will absolutely allow herself to be spoon-fed, unlike John who never did. However, Mary does like to try to spoon-feed herself already at almost seven months old. I've discovered from experimentation that she doesn't want simply an extra, empty spoon, she wants the real spoon. She likes when I put some food on the spoon, then lay the spoon on the tray so she can pick it up and feed herself, which she does remarkably competently (putting the correct end of the spoon in her mouth). If I had a goal of getting a certain amount of food in her tummy, I couldn't afford to be this patient, but I consider solids at this age to be all about experimentation and learning about textures. Mary still takes in only about one teaspoon of solids per day (often in two sittings because she really wants to eat when I have breakfast and dinner).
Wow, that's amazing that Mary is already trying to use the spoon herself! Theo is just now starting to do that, and he's eight months older than she is! Does John tend to eat with a spoon? If so, I wonder if Mary is also trying to imitate him?? I've noticed that when people have multiple children close in age, the babies seem to pick up behaviors like that more quickly, and I've wondered how much of it is a desire to imitate their older siblings....
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