Baby bites

We had family taco dinner tonight and even 8 month old Emme got in on the action, with some mashed avocado, grated cheddar and home-made garlic sauce. She loved it.

At 8 months, Emme has been eating voraciously, with gusto and enthusiasm, for over four months, and after devouring this smash up, she had some corn taco and a piece of tomato, both of which she almost choked on. When I introduced my son to solids, it was a markedly different experience. He was our first. And we were such newbies. We adhered to almost all of the advice (except with regards to eggs, I think). But sometimes he would choke too, and it scared the bejesus out of me. One day, when lamenting the precarious and risky state of toddler-feeding to a girlfriend with a baby five months older than mine, I learned a valuable lesson.. She leaned in to me and confided, "Babies choke! You just fish it back out!" It was a lightbulb moment and probably a very crucial parenting concept to grasp. Shit happens, and your job isn't to prevent it altogether but rather to help them through it.


The pleasure Emme got from sucking the flesh from a perfectly ripe side of tomato, juice running down her chin and pooling on her chest, well, it was immeasurable. The skin proved too much for her and I had to remove the fruit before it blocked her windpipe(!), but I would never avoid experiences like this just to err really far on the side of extreme caution.

Food should be fun. Healthy, fresh, delicious and fun.