Weaning

Natali is a year old now.  It's amazing how fast time goes.  We had her 1 year check up and shots on her birthday.  There were lots of shots, which sucked, but she was a trooper and got over it all really quickly.  Natali is now 21.2 pounds and 29.5 inches long.  Her head circumference is 18.5 inches, which from the calculator I found is the 90th percentile.  I don't know if that is a good thing or bad thing or if it doesn't matter?  Maybe her big head is the reason she won't walk, too much brain to hold up on 2 feet. :-)

While at the doctor's appointment we received a large packet about weaning.  This is going to be a big challenge for us.  We have had such a good routine going with the formula and baby food.  We knew exactly when and how much to feed her and she always had a really good variety of foods.  Now she is supposed to eat "table food".  We have been giving her finger foods for a while now, but if we have to switch all her food to table food from pureed food it is going to be a big challenge to find a good enough variety for her.  The other thing is the formula.  We are supposed to switch her now to whole milk from formula and feed her from a sippy cup instead of a bottle.  I have been working on this for 2 days now.  I am still giving her a bottle first thing in the morning and before bed at night.  Then throughout the day she gets whole milk from a sippy cup.  Of course, she hasn't quite mastered the sippy cup yet so that has been yet another challenge.  The milk thing has been going ok though.  I think that will be the easiest part.  The table food is much harder for me.  I am still giving her some pureed food, because we have it, and it can be easier to get her to eat spoon food.  I have been trying to find a good variety of small vegetables to give her too.  She will eat veggies just fine (corn, peas, etc), but I have to give them to her first before I show her what else I have.  If there is anything else on her tray with the veggies she won't eat them.  She loves hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and just plain bread.  She likes chicken too.  I think tonight I'm going to try a turkey burger patty cut into little pieces with peas and carrots (served first of course).  I am trying, but this is definitely not going to be easy for me.

In other news, Natali has figured out a few things she is absolutely not supposed to do (such as pull on the window blinds).  However, she will crawl in that direction, stop, give me a big grin, and then immediately pull herself up and mess with the blinds while smiling and laughing at me.  I hope it doesn't get much worse or I will be one frustrated mom.