Day 22

I bought a beautiful plum today…it practically jumped out of the box. I gave it to Sugarpie whole to see how she would react. She picked it up, gnawed it to no avail, and chunked it. Repeat 3x before Mommy decided to help.

I cut a thick slice and put it on her high chair. She made a sour face, but went back for more. The pulp was separated from the skin with her tiny teeth. We did this with 2 more pieces. She loved it! She didn’t eat all of them but had fun chewing at the bits hanging from the skin. At some point, she should be able to tackle a whole one.

For dinner, I made grilled chicken marinated in garlic chives, lemon juice, and olive oil. Normally I would add salt to the mix, but I made it Sugarpie-friendly. I picked softer bits from the inside and she took it eagerly. She seemed to have a hard time getting it to a point where she could swallow it. (I think poached is better for at this early point of food intro.)

She started to get fussy, so I gave her a taste of baba ganoush…wow! Loaded with lemon juice and garlic, she smacked her lips and wanted more. I put a teaspoon-size blop on her tray, and suddenly she had Technicolor chicken. She licked bits of the baba ganoush off of her tiny fingertips and dragged the chicken through it as well–the chicken was suddenly much more attractive.

Not wanting to give her too much as eggplant can sometimes be a little bit irritating, I peeled a beautiful Sungold tomato wedge for her and she munched away at half. But she’s not shy in letting us know when she’s had enough, so we shut it down when the fussing started.

There was baba ganoush EVERYWHERE. Her little hands were coated in it and she really wanted to touch Daddy’s head with her baba ganoush-y hands. Ew.

Daddy whisked her away to the bath.

Can you imagine a 4 year-old tucking into a brown bowl of eggplant spread? I can’t, but I certainly hope that with early exposure, Sugarpie will keep the same eager and open mind that she has now.

**On a safety note, I recommend checking your baby’s mouth before bed time. Sugarpie had a smooth piece of tomato stuck to the roof of her mouth and, for obvious reasons, we did not want to put her to bed that way. A lot of her food seems to end up there, but I imagine that this will get better as she gets better at chewing.