solids are messy!

Let's talk about the mess of BLW.

Basically, there's a lot of mess. Like, a whole lot of mess. 

I told Joel yesterday that I wonder how much time we're saving by doing BLW... because even though I'm not spending hours blending up baby food, I'm doing a lot of wiping and scrubbing and picking food out of a million crevices... He pointed out that purees are messy, too. Good point, husband. Very good point.

Anyway, after about a month of solids we have a pretty good system and some helpful gear that makes this process great. Here's our routine:

• Charlotte usually eats solids for dinner, so while Joel is playing with her, I'm prepping the meal. Since she eats whatever we're eating, I often take a couple pieces out of the hot dish and let them cool on her tray. We got this chair which has an easily removable (and dishwasher safe!) tray that pops right on/off. It's the right height for Charlotte to sit at the table with us (we just move the seat away from the table enough that she can't grab onto the table cloth :) ) and is very easy to clean. She can also entertain herself by carefully examining the straps when she is done eating, so that's a nice bonus. I am a HUGE fan of this chair and highly recommend it!
• I get her tray ready with 2-3 different foods, Joel buckles her into the chair, we pray together, then we pop the tray on and let her begin. She drops a lot of food, so we put an old twin sized sheet under her chair before she sits down. Depending on the meal, we sometimes take off her clothes. If it's not terribly messy, we just put on a big bib that will cover most of her body. Her hands, lower arms, and face get COVERED with food. When dinner is close to being over, I grab a burp cloth (not so often used for spit up anymore!) and put some soap on it, then get it wet. One of us removes the tray while the other wrangles the baby and gets her as clean as possible with the wet, soapy cloth. Sometimes a bath has to happen right after dinner, but usually the wet cloth is enough. 
• We pick up the chunks of food that fell onto the sheet, throw them away with whatever was left on her tray, then shake out the sheet. It goes back in a cupboard until dinner the next day. So far we have only washed the sheet a couple of times... definitely not after every meal. Aint nobody got time for that.

I'm trying to make sure Charlotte eats a wide variety of foods each week, and that her diet is balanced with all kinds of delicious (mostly healthy!) stuff. Here's a sample of what she has eaten lately:

Sunday - waffles, raspberry, blueberry (smashed)

Monday- mashed potatoes

Tuesday- broccoli, sweet potatoes 

Thursday- corn on the cob, two blueberries, mashed potatoes
Friday- asparagus, lasagna

Monday-  cheese stick, mango slices, broccoli
Tuesday- strawberries, chicken sausage (skin removed), green pepper
Wednesday- colby jack cheese stick, sandwich crusts
Thursday- pesto rotini, strawberries, spinach, shredded carrots
Friday- Rotini with no-salt-added sauce and ground beef, asparagus
Saturday- pear, green pepper, roasted sweet potatoes, tiny tastes of Rita's water ice/soft serve:)