What She Eats, & What She Doesn't

Starting Netty on solid foods has been an adventure, one that I'm sure most parents can relate to. We've gone through many phases on this food journey, but I think we've come to terms with the fact that Netty will eat what she wants to and won't eat what she doesn't want to, and we need to be okay with that.

When we first started solid foods, Netty would not wear a bib. Every bib we put on her ended up in her mouth and then we couldn't feed her. This was the one bib that she would leave alone for the most part. I am grateful now that she will wear bibs. It makes cleaning up a lot easier, and it means we didn't waste $6 on cute bibs.

 This little girl has a drinking problem, just like her parents. Probably close to half of our grocery budget goes to beverages of all kinds (except of the alcoholic type) simply because we love beverages. When I was growing up and would go to my grandma's house, Grandma wouldn't give us a drinks until we were done with our meal because she said we would fill up on that and not eat our food. As much as I hated it then, we've had to do the same thing with Netty. She doesn't get her water until after she's eaten almost everything.

Netty is still working on learning to hold a cup. Most of the time she refuses to hold it, probably because she can't drink as easily as when I hold it for her. It cracks me up because she's independent in so many other areas. But we're working on it. I am grateful that these bibs are lined with plastic because it keeps her clothes from getting soaked every time she takes a swig. However, these we made the mistake of sticking a couple of them in the dryer, and now the plastic as melted and we had to throw them away.

As Netty has gotten a little older and more teeth have come in, she wants food that she can chew, not just baby food. Jonathan and I got a jar of green beans when we got married from some people in his family ward, and since Jonathan doesn't like green beans and I only make things that he likes, the jar sat on our shelf for over a year. For several weeks Netty refused to eat baby food, and I became discouraged. I opened the green beans for Netty, and she loved them. They were exactly what she needed until she started eating baby food again.

Since we've been back in Rexburg, Jonathan has been coming home a lot more for lunch. Netty loves having the company when she eats. My aunt and uncle gave us a high chair when Netty was born, but the apartment that we live in now is much smaller than our old apartment, and there isn't space for it in our kitchen. We put it in our storage room and got this booster seat. Netty likes it because she can sit at the table with us. Someday we'll live in a place with a big enough kitchen to house a high chair, but for now, this works.

 Netty makes the funniest faces sometimes. One day I was feeding her carrots for lunch, and she was so excited for every bite (sadly, she's not always this enthusiastic about eating). She was so excited, though, that she wouldn't hold still for me to get a clear shot to her mouth. She ended up with a pretty nice looking mustache.