Dinner Date

I almost got all of my goals for today met. I did a load of diaper laundry, got everything unpacked/put away and made the house presentable. Here is a video clip of how Ayden kept himself occupied while I unpacked:

 I also finished sorting trough my nephew's 6-9 month tub. There were a lot of summer clothes so I found all of the fall/winter options and got them washed too. Tomorrow I put it all away and we'll finally have a lot of clothes to choose from!

Polly is doing great!  Enjoying the fresh Fall air :).

 Ayden only took one nap today and it didn't happen until 3:00! He was in a good mood and I tried a few times but he just wanted to play so I didn't waste time pressing the issue.

My little buddy.

His nap was an hour total (though he woke crying 20 minutes in and I put him back to sleep) and afterward he was in a great mood until bedtime.

It's been a while since I've done any kind of Baby-Led Weaning update. Now that Ayden is over 8 months old, he actually gets a ton of his food down the hatch. A little will end up in his bib and every now and then a piece or two will be in the booster next to him but for the most part he is EATING.  He is so funny while he eats.  He makes all kinds of noises and always looks at David and makes a high five motion repeatedly.  If he runs out he kind of grunts at us, insistently (we are working on the sign for more) and eats and eats.  His current favorites seem to be chicken, zucchini, mashed cauliflour, mashed parsnips, brussels sprouts, carrots, onions, apple/apple sauce, bananas, oranges, grapes, kiwi, cantelope and anything dipped in my home made gravy (tonight it was broccoli).  He drank some of the beef broth from our soup last night through a straw and loved it!  He'll try everything we put in front of him and I don't think we've found anything he doesn't like, though he definitely shows preferences for some foods over others. We are so pleased with the variety of foods that we've been able to introduce through Baby-Led Weaning and we are also glad he has been exposed to such a variety of food textures already.  He pretty much just eats whatever we eat and it is fun that we all have dinner together.  He has also moved past the need for big "sticks" of food and does really well with everything cut into little chunks.  He still rakes the food into his palm, rather than using a pincer grasp, but he has developed very good hand/mouth coordination.  He can pick up the tiniest of pieces of anything, whether it be food on his tray or something he finds randomly on the floor.  Any mealtime is entertaining when Ayden is involved, as you can probably tell:

I'm going to try to catch some video of him soon because it is too cute not to document!  He was asleep by 8:30 tonight so I am hoping we are naturally working back toward his usual routine, two naps and all.  I am not realy sure what my plans are for tomorrow, other than stocking his closet and drawers with a bunch of new (to us) clothes. We may go to the park to swing or perhaps walk down to the neighborhood pond to see the ducks.  It is kind of nice not to have everything super booked and planned out.

~Sarah