At essentially 9 months, Evvie can toss back the caloric needs of a linebacker relative to size. I’ve thrown avocado, pad thai, cucumber, grapes, banana, chicken, pepperjack cheese her way and every item is housed. Occasionally her hand shovels so aggressively that her 8 killer chompers crush her fingers and she cries. So, I give her more food to help her sad feelings go away – Like the banana muffin from Madison Kitchen she inhaled with Kate this week, because, well, duh.

Anyway, as I watch her occasionally fill her entire mouth with edibles not entirely well masticated I wonder if I’m doing this right. I’m in the field of giving evidence based recommendations to all ages at all times about all things related to bodies, but there was no chapter in my training on how to feed a human.

So like any 30-something moderately intelligent mother who is under slept, over anxious with a baby still waking every 3 hours, I talk to google. Google has yet to compile the evidence on the subject and instead provides a slue of posts by equally neurotic 30-somethings who blog.

Some say feed them anything as long as it resembles snot applesauce and only introduce one food each day. This seems sound, but it wasn’t right for us. Ev was sitting up, had an outstanding gag reflex and was essentially reaching into our mouths to retrieve our dinner. At one point, she gagged on a pea and it made me nervous. I frantically grabbed her and tried to remember my infant CPR and she looked at me smiling like, “hey lady, chill. I was coughing that back up for seconds.” And I feel like a nut and worried what this stubborn little gal will be like later, but then I remember she’ll be spending her teen years with her auntie Amelia – so I’m good. This is kind of how we did it (starting around 4 months):

• Trialed rice cereal mixed with breast milk for a few days after breastfeeding
• A couple days later, we mashed some avocado in one of those KidsMe feeder gems and she destroyed it. We used peaches, grapes, frozen blueberries, chickpeas in these contraptions. Baby mind blown.
• We agreed her gag reflex worked as it should and so at this point we went hog wild and gave her anything we ate. Current faves include: ravioli, peas, cheese
• The Inglesina chair at the table was perfect for our setup
• We invited Charlie Bucket over to clean the floor

Parenting cliche #4000 that is TRUE – watching your kid try new food is genuine fun

Updates: Our contractor Memo brought homemade tortillas and burria tonight (awesome on many levels considering we are sleep training and consuming bourbon primarily). Ev ate an entire tortilla and as much meat as me. It was awesome.