Isn't it strange how the things that used to gross you out - you know, before you have kids - just don't seem to faze you after you do have kids? This evening Joshua and I spent the better part of an hour locked in the bathroom so that he could crawl around and play naked. What a free-spirited little boy, you might say; and yes, you would be right. The reason for the self-inflicted locking-in-the-bathroom, though, was only diaper rash. And so I let him pee all over the bathroom floor (which might have grossed me out before he came along), following along with a towel and taking care of whatever puddle he was about to crawl through. I even let him crawl up into my lap and sit there, bouncing and naked, but still hoping that he didn't decide "Oh, I need to poop right now." (He didn't.) And hopefully the bathroom frolicking session will help clear up the diaper rash, because I'd hate to press my luck. But that isn't what I really wanted to write about this week. What I've really been thinking about a lot is food. Not for Tim or me, but for Joshua. One of the hardest things that I've found about being a first time mom is that I am (almost) completely unsure about what I am doing when I feed my child meals. What kind of food should he eat? Will he be allergic? Is this enough? Too much? Is it too hot? Cold? When will he eat finger foods? Use a spoon? Joshua does a great job of eating, but he's always been a little bit of a step behind the books - he choked and gagged when he was "supposed" to be eating finger foods, and we waited almost another two months before he mastered the art. I guess he didn't read that book.
We've been making homemade baby food this whole time, and maybe that's why I am lost. I think that most parents simply go to the grocery store and stock up on jars of apples with blueberries and turkey and mixed vegetable dinners. They don't stress out about whether their kids have had enough protein or whole grains, or whether they have had both green AND orange vegetables that day - enough vitamin C? A? D? Iron? Calcium? Protein complementarity?!
We will continue to make homemade baby food, though, because it is healthy, it costs less, and it just feels right. (If you're interested in the process, Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron is the book we've used, and she does a great job of taking you step-by-step through it all.) As time goes by, I'm sure I'll feel more comfortable with feeding him, and it will seem like a breeze. I'll wonder why I was ever worried about it, because it seems so easy. And hopefully that will translate into whatever new worry I have (sunscreen, or water consumption, or mystery illnesses) and that will someday seem easy as well. It does get easier, right?--
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