Fun with Food

Ben is loving getting to eat what we are eating. Tonight we had grilled chicken with pasta and veggies. He almost cleaned his plate and ate very nearly a whole chicken tenderloin. (granted, the one I picked for him was small.) He let me feed him his pasta for a while, but it turned out that what started out as sauce clumped together, and he got to pick that up and eat it, too (thank you, pasta-roni.) He also had corn, which he loves, and got to eat spinach tonight. He's had it before all pureed up with other things in baby food, but tonight, he got to eat just spinach. I DID have to spoon feed him that, for the most part. As dinner wore on, though, he'd had enough of the spoon.

Turns out he's a camera hound. I got it out, and he immediately stopped what he was doing and smiled at me. It was really hard to get the "action" shots of him actually eating. Bibs are also a must now. Why does feeding yourself have to be so messy?

Here's one of those smiles for the camera. Click this one and look at those teeth!

This is when I gave him spinach to pick up for himself.

Another giggle fit for the camera.

Squeezing some more spinach.

I'm strong to the finish cause I eats my spinach.

Edit: I wonder if the spinach didn't give him gas, though. So far, he hasn't slept well tonight. I've always been a spinach lover, but I don't ever recall it making my belly hurt.

Friday's Play date

Last Friday Ben and I went to Morristown for a play date with Aunt Angie and Abby, and Treva and Emma. Our first stop was Chick-Fil-A (which is where the pictures are from.) Ben is loving this new "table food diet". It's all the rage with the babies. He had 2 chicken nuggets, a couple of manadrin orange pieces, some strawberry, a few bites of the baby food I brought "just in case", AND I think he stole a waffle fry or two when I wasn't looking.

The Chick-Fil-A Cow was running around on Friday, and he really caught Ben and Emma's attention. Ben in particular watched his every mooooove. The kids got balloons and got to spin the prize wheel. Everybody got a stuffed cow. After all that, the kids played in the playground area. Pictures follow.

Then we went to the mall for some more indoor play. We thought about the splash park, but it was just hot, and mid-day, which is never good for all our fair-skinned babies. Upon arriving, the first person we ran into was Mamaw Debbie! She's getting ready for a trip to Texas to see Uncle Bob. We had a pleasant little visit, and she, of course, got to say hello to all the kids. We then proceeded to the play area where the kids had some more good times. Sorry there's no pictures from the mall, but the camera was the last thing on my mind with all the too-big-kid hoodlums running around in there.

Ben enjoyed his day, and we hope we can get together some more before Ms. Treva has to go back to work!

Ben had never been in the play area before. When we first arrived there were some big kids making noise. I think he's looking up at their shadows in the tunnels.

Abby had lots of fun. I love her little hair fountain! In the back, Ben has found the wheel. Emma gave him lots of help with it.

Emma is showing us the clogging moves she learned on vacation. She's really good!

Ben loved all the visual stimulation in the play area.

He hopes to ride the slide someday!

9 Month Check-up!

Yesterday Ben was 9 months old, and today was his 9 month well-baby visit. He's been a big talker all day and even charmed the other kids in the waiting room (which, of course, made me nervous. WHAT IF THEY WERE SICK!) He was so good that the doctor even commented that he smelled good!


He's a big ol' boy, but is right on target for his age. He weighed in at 21 lbs 8 oz and is now 28 inches tall. He's half a pound and half an inch away from outgrowing his car seat! Ben was also pretty much cleared for table food. With the exception of the common allergens (nuts, fish, shellfish, eggs, etc.), he can eat anything as long as he can chew it or it's small enough to swallow. (Swallow comfortably, i would guess. I don't think I'd give him a bite-size raw carrot or anything.) In honor of that, he ate a cheese Krystal for dinner last night, along with an extra patty from one Daddy didn't eat. We're taking cues from Angie and he had green beans as his side. Greasy hamburger is enough without adding greasy, salty french fries. As I expected, he loved it. I didn't give him the pickle (it was too big), but he did eat the onions that were embedded in the cheese, and seemed ok with what mustard he ended up with. Turns out, a steak probably isn't so far away, as long as it's tender, and tiny.

(He had blood drawn today. Notice his little bandage on his left arm. He was a trooper, though.)