American in Spain

Nora's First Veggies

September 29, 2009

thumbLast Friday, the day after her six month birthday, we took Nora to the pediatrician, who gave us permission to start giving her vegetable puree, fruits, and even meat! Rather than grill her up a good t-bone steak, we've decided to start with the vegetables, so Marga made her a leek, carrot, and potato puree, while I set up the tripod to capture the event on video. It immediately became obvious that we need to buy a high chair ASAP so that the flailing veggie monster doesn't have to sit on our laps. Also, do they make little baby straitjackets? Those arms are nothing but trouble. She tends to grab at the food end of the spoon, which not only defeats the whole purpose of the spoon user interface, but also makes it really hard to pry away from her, once she has a hold of the end that is easiest to hold on to. If the spoon with the puree is the airplane, and Nora's mouth is the hangar, then her hands are scrambled fighter jets sent to destroy the plane before it can get into the hangar.

It's clear that we have much to learn. The dialog in Spanish goes something like, "Should I stop feeding her yet?" "I dunno, I've never done this!" "Me neither!" Ah, parental cluelessness...isn't it adorable?