Learning to chew is much like learning to swim

It's much harder than you might think, but it's a handy skill to use the rest of your life.

We've had a tough time introducing Mack to foods with texture. He's quite stubbornly refused to accept anything except the smoothest of purees and creamiest of yogurts. Recently we've buckled down with more chances to practice chewing, offering tiny half Cheerios, thin slivers of cheese curds, and very small and extremely soft bits of banana. He's been a little more receptive, particularly to the Cheerios, so last night we gave him teeny-tiny bits of chicken, and tonight we added small pieces of soft pizza crust (homemade - no preservatives here!) with melted Parmesan. He seemed happy with both and even tried to use his hands to pick them up; failing that (no pincher grasp yet), he bent his head down to his highchair tray and tried to lap up the pieces. It was adorable and funny - and kind of sad, too. Poor kid. When are those hands going to catch up with his brain?



He's loving his highchair, too - it's the Svan in espresso with a red cushion and a removable plastic tray cover. Yes, it's probably too expensive for a highchair, but theoretically he can use it as a toddler and big kid chair later on. Plus, it looks groovy. (Hey, we're yuppies struggling against the plastic tidal wave of baby goods. What other choice do we have?)



Also, when we left daycare today, I called out to his daycare lady, "Bye, Phyllis!" and Mack chimed in, "Bah!" So I repeated, "Bye-bye!" and he echoed back to me with a big grin. Maybe it's not officially his first word, but we'll try again tomorrow. So far he says Dada, Mama (though sometimes it comes out Ah-ma) and Baba, which might mean kitty...