Finger Foods and Beyond...

Even though I must say that I've made some pretty delicious baby food over the past few months since Diana started eating "solids"(including butternut squash and quinoa with cumin and banana pear cinnamon sauce), I can tell my baby girl is starting to become a bit bored with eating mushy mouthfuls at every meal. Thanks to a great suggestion from our good friends Sandra and Alvaro, we started feeding Diana rice cracker Mum Mum snacks a few months ago - they dissolve right in her mouth and she goes crazy for them! Grandma Linda (Nonna) found a HUGE mega box of them at Sam's Club last week (see picture above) so we are definitely set with those until she's 2 years old I think!

Anyway, we decided a few weeks ago it was time to expand her culinary horizons. This includes yogurt puffs in banana mango and mixed berry and veggie puffs with spinach. She's been picking up the bite-sized pieces with her little chubby hands in the last few days and has started feeding herself! When did she become so independent?! She's come a long way since her first encounter with rice cereal at 4 months old (see above right). We've also started feeding her our "adult" food and she opens her mouth like a little bird, ready and willing to try anything! Made some Mac & Cheese last night and gave her tiny pieces of cheesy pasta...and made Moroccan Chickpea soup the night before that, put her portion in the food processor and we had an instant gourmet baby meal!

I hope she follows in her mom and dad's footsteps and gets excited about eating and cooking! So far, so good. We have a messy, but fun adventure ahead of us!