Asher eats

Do you guys like Instagram as much as I do? I seriously love it! It's so fun for me to scroll back through the photos I've posted over the last year or so... My kids changing before my eyes, memories of mundane days gone by... 

Anyway, I use #ashereats on my Instagram account to document some of the things we are feeding our boy these days. It's so cute to see him eating his dinner with the family like a cool, big guy. 

BLW (baby led weaning) has been so great this time around! The gagging doesn't startle me very much because I'm confident that he will work out whatever food he can't swallow. I can't believe how nice it is to eat dinner with my hands free. 

Who am I kidding? I have a toddler-- my hands aren't really free! BUT by giving Asher bits and pieces of whatever we are eating, there's no spooning mush into his mouth. I can eat dinner with my own two hands and help Charlotte and (sometimes) chat with Joel, all while Asher happily gnaws on his own food. 

Asher currently has 1.5 teeth, so he isn't ripping things apart fully, but we find bits in his diaper so I feel confident he is getting some good nutrients. We don't have any allergies in our family so I haven't felt the need to wait in between trying foods. 

Here are some things he's been eating lately (sorry, Dad, I know you think these posts are boring with a capital B!).

Steamed broccoli, steamed green beans, steamed baby carrots, steamed zucchini (he was not interested at all!), cucumber slices, peas, raw spinach (gagged and didn't like it), Apple, mandarin slice, pear slice, avocado, roasted asparagus, roasted potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, Cheerios, rotini with meat sauce, rotini with pesto, cheddar cheese stick, bbq chicken, roasted chicken, turkey burger strip, hamburger strip, pork carnitas, jasmine rice, and baked French fries. 

When I serve him meat, I give it in a chunk about the size of my thumb. That way he can grab hold and suck the juices out; sometimes he gnaws off a piece, too. He LOVES chicken, pork, and beef. He's way more into meat than I remember Charlotte being. She was all about the fruit; Asher doesn't seem to be quite as enthused as she was. Anyway, it's fun to notice differences between the two :) 

[One thing I want to point out is that Asher is always sitting fully upright when we give him solid food. I think this is specifically important in regards to ensuring that a baby's gag reflex is activated... Sometimes high chairs recline, but that's not safe when babies are eating solids this way.]