I just got back from a much needed vacation to the beach.  Lesson #1 – Lucy loves sand! 

When we arrived at the ocean, she looked out at the water with a stunned look on her face.  And when a sea gull flew by, her head whipped around and she made the sign for bird.  She wanted down and, once on the sand, she immediately picked up a handful of sand and dropped it a few times.  And then she popped some in her mouth.  Silly me.  I thought she would have been disgusted.  But then she did it again!  Another mom was close by and asked, “First trip to the beach?  Take it from me – babies love sand and will eat it right up!”

She was right.

The last growth spurt was accompanied by a 2″ growth in 2 weeks. Yesterday, my normally good-natured Lucy was exceptionally fussy. She would giggle, then complain. She just didn’t seem to want to settle down.

When dinner time came, she was super excited. She quickly snarfed down 1/4 of an avocado before I could get the banana to her. She ate half a banana. So I gave her a couple of spoon fulls of some organic baby food.

She started whining when I began to recap the jar. So I gave her the rest and she devoured it.

I couldn’t believe it when she still seemed hungry. I gave her another the remainder of the half avocado. And I finally have her a couple of hand fulls of cheerios before she sat back and smiled. Whew! She’s only 9 months old!

I make all of our baby food…well, almost all of it.  There is the occassional jar of organic carrots or peas when I’m totally busted. 

I’m trying to go a full year with the breast feeding but the supply is waning and Lucy really likes the experience of feeding herself.  One thing that she won’t tolerate are the nasty vitamin drops.  I was desperately trying to keep her iron supply high (breast-fed babies are notorious for having low iron counts) and I surprised the doctor.

Broccoli, brown rice, beets and tofu definitely helped Lucy’s hemoglobin report.  It’s a pain in the arse to keep up the fresh food supply, but it’s worth it!  The Ped doc hardly believed that there was no formula or vitamin drops behind the good report.

My daughter is 9 months old and she is eating me out of house and home.  Who woulda thought?  I’m a picky eater and my husband is a freak about food but little-miss-eat-it-all can knock back a tray full of avacado, carrots, peas, tofu, papaya and black beans like nobody’s business.

And that’s how I’ll start.  I have learned a lot and will learn a lot more.  Hopefully my experiences will help others.