Having Babies in Holes

Dave and I conduct our marriage as a partnership, running our household as a team, making decisions together, etc. He generally has more influence over the financial decisions because that stuff interests him, and I generally have more influence over the parental decisions because it interests me. We still discuss and give our opinions, but the more knowledgable person usually gets a weighted score in the final tally. We jokingly tell people that ours is a 51% -49% partnership, but the person with the majority vote changes with the subject. Given my sweet husband's inherent love for arguing, this is a good formula for us to follow. It cuts out the crap when I've done hours of research and he needs to tell me that so-and-so at the courthouse says we should switch the baby to soy formula to remedy his gas. Right. Maybe, if the baby were drinking formula. Thanks, so-and-so.

Thus, last night, as we watched Luke repeatedly attempt to steal food from our plates at the supper table and get increasingly mad when we stopped him, we had such a discussion about the introduction of solid food. The child is obviously ready to eat, but he's only 5 months old. Though I had previously decided we would wait until 6 months to introduce solid food, I was struggling with the rightness of that decision in the face of a very interested baby. Seeing my struggle, Dave started asking me questions. Questions about what the research says, what the AAP says, what our pediatrician says, what the mothers who start solids at 4 months would say, about allergies, and so forth. I spouted off all I have learned about the subject, all while fending off little hands. Then he asked me the clarifying question, understanding me as he does: "What would those mothers who dig a hole to have their babies do?"

Me: "They'd watch their babies and feed them when they started acting interested in food. Oh. They wouldn't have books and AAP recommendations to tell them when to feed the baby, they'd just pay attention to his cues."

So, he ate canned peaches last night because that's all I had in the house suitable as a first food. He loved them. He also drank about an ounce of water from his cup, which he has quickly learned how to use. He'd gladly have eaten my spaghetti, but I will adhere to a slow introduction of the least allergenic foods even if I started a few weeks early. I went out at lunch today and bought carrots, squash, pears, prunes, sweet potatoes, beef, chicken, and turkey. In no time at all, he'll be eating straight from the table, just like his sister.