Can it be? Is the small boy really SIX months old? Alas yes, it is true! Six months is a big milestone... time for solids! Say goodbye to tidy mealtimes (who am I kidding, we have a toddler) and ever-so-delightful exclusively breastfed baby poo and get ready for messy floors and messier nappies.

Of course it is inevitable, they do need to eat eventually, and he was showing all the signs... very interested in mealtimes, chewing at us, able to manipulate smaller objects into his mouth, nice strong boy able to sit up in the highchair, tongue thrust reflex well and truly gone, drooling up a storm ready to start digesting all that foody goodness and of course, trying to swipe food when it was left in close proximity. He even managed to steal a dried cranberry from his sister a few weeks back.. he sat there looking most impressed with himself as I prised it from his little fist.

So, being a lazy family we don't bother with purees... straight to grown up food. "WHAT???" I hear you ask... "but... won't he choke?" umm no, well at least it's not any more likely than a baby eating smooth mush, in fact there is reason to believe that a baby feeding him or herself is less likely to choke as they are controlling the rate at which food enters their mouth. It is a fantastic thing to watch... he will bite (well, gum - no teeth yet) off a piece of food, move it around in his mouth, chew then gag. Your heart is in your throat the first few times but you soon learn to watch for any signs that indicate that they may be getting into trouble. Soon enough a piece of food will emerge from the tardis. Seriously, I have no idea how some of these bits fit in there in the first place, but he has managed to work out that he has bitten off more than he can chew - literally - and out it comes. I love that we are teaching him to eat and participate in mealtimes without having to cook him special food, and without a gazillion ice cube trays taking up valuable freezer space.

So far he's had... avocado, sweet potato, pumpkin, potato, carrot, runner bean, snow pea, tomato, broccoli (the only thing he's consistently rejecting), steak, toast, a fruit bun he swiped from me one day, banana, mango, watermelon, peach, apple, pear and yoghurt. No reactions so far, but we're really not expecting any.. and oh.my.gosh... the boy can EAT!

Some pictures for your viewing pleasure...

Yes... I did this all by myself :-)

Well I can safely say that she will never be deficient in vitamin C! G would fight you to the death for a plate of grapes... She would be ecstatic if fruit was the only food she was allowed to eat. She can name every fruit in the supermarket except for some of the odd exotics and the only fruit I can think of off the top of my head that she doesn't like are mangoes... however next year she will probably love them!
We currently have a bag of plums and apricots in the bottom of the fridge that came from Mum & Dad's fruit trees (lucky as apricots cost a fortune!) and she is now tall enough to help herself... not sure how good this really is but at least she is toilet trained during the day so she's not going to be getting a red bum from sitting in fruit poo (sorry to all you non-parents but as you know, we parents can't have a conversation without mentioning poo).
We are also growing strawberries in pots on our back deck and one of the highlights of her day is checking to see if any are ready yet so that she can eat them (after she has helped to water them).
So, sitting in the highchair this evening after scraping most of the vegetables off her pizza and eating the base I give her a handful of blueberries and an apricot, she asks for a plum as well and I oblige. She then goes on to tell me that the blueberries are her friends.... ok then. At least they don't cry when you bite them, take your toys or compete with you for the attention of others.