Adventure with Rice Cereal

We realize that we are on the later end of the typical time to start our son on rice cereal, but we started offering this to Jasper last Saturday. Here is Jasper in preparations for the first attempt.

He had no idea what was coming. We started with the typical rice cereal, and we were surprised to find out how runny the recommended mix ratio makes the cereal. As Erica prepared the mix, I prepared the digital camera to capture the moment. As most parents would feel but often don't admit, I was confident that Jasper was going to eagerly take the food. After all, he was showing quite a bit of interest in Erica and me when we eat. As you can see from these photos, I was wrong...very wrong.

"What is that, mommy?"

"I'm not sure I like this."

"I really don't like this...stuff."

"I REALLY REALLY REALLY DON'T LIKE THIS STUFF!"

I then reacted like any good parent would when they are blind sided by their child: you read the books that you should have read before you did what you did. I found a theme in the sections I read. The experts recommended that you let the child have some freedom during meal time. That freedom includes letting them use their hands and tolerate the mess that occurs. So, I setup the next meal in the bath tub.

We made a mess, but Jasper still didn't like the cereal. It was fun to let him explore the cereal with his hands, and I "explored" the cereal as well. We needed a new plan.

Jasper rejects the bottle if it is too cold. I wonder if we need to find a way to keep the rice cereal warm during the feedings. Tonight, I heated some water in the container we used for the cereal; I dumped out the water; Erica mixed the rice cereal, and...

Success!!!

Here is a video of the successful attempt. We guess that Jasper ate about a table spoon. We will see how he does tomorrow!