Fern At Four Months: Girl Stuff & Food

My little Fern turned four months old last week.  That's not a huge milestone for most, but for us, it's big.  It means I get to take her for a checkup and I start her on solid foods.  

First the check-up:  I love going to my pediatrician.  He was mine when I was younger and I've gone to church with his family my whole life.  I love, LOVE going to the doctor for checkups because he is great at answering my questions, talking me through things, and encouraging me as a mom!  Sometimes I think it's more about me than the kids, which is a little backwards.  Fern is doing great, but I learned that she probably doesn't have my height-which is a little disappointing because I really like being not average.  My little shrimp was only in the 25% for height and 50% for weight.  Can it be that this 9lb 14 oz chunk of love is going to be petite?
  

That's totally ok because I still just love her so stinking much!  With a son, I feel like I have to be interested in things that aren't really me.  Tools, big trucks, burping.  (Well, I kinda dig a good belch, so I'll scratch that last one.)  I have brothers, so I'm comfortable with boy things, but I'm not an expert.  With a girl, I feel like I can be more of myself.  We'll be into the same things.  We'll know the difference between a dress and a skirt and a skort.  We'll know what "dress it up or dress it down" means.  I'm not a girly-girl or a tom-boy.  I like wearing ruffles and I like riding 4-wheelers.  I wear pink flower necklaces while I drive the tractor.  I hope I'm getting my point across.  

Anyways, when it's just her and me, I get this warm ruffly, flowerery glow inside.  I usually do the usual kissy-face, tickle thing with her.  Then, sometimes I talk girl-talk with her.  Sometimes I just say "girl-talk" and "long hair" and "dresses" to her.  Just the words.  Not in context.  Just because I can and I'm pretty sure she knows what I'm talking about.  She usually talks back with me.  She gives me a few oh's and ah's and eek's and I know she's getting into it.  

This weekend, we gave her solid food for the first time.  I mashed some bananas with water and went for it.  The four of us bonded over a common love: food.  From the few days that we've been on this path, I think that it's safe to say she likes food.  John, Burl, and I had a lot of fun enjoying bananas as a family.  Wild times on a Friday night!  

I'm only two kids into this, so I'm not much of an expert on what it comes to raising children or creating good eaters.  However, I try to listen whenever I hear people give their opinions or advice on things.  I remember something my mom told me over ten years ago.  She was working in the speech department at her school.

Babies love putting things in their mouth.  It's how they learn and explore their little world, so when things are constantly taken away from them or out of their mouth, then they can't learn new textures.  Without learning and being comfortable with new textures, eating and tasting new foods becomes hard for them.  With that in mind, I was pretty liberal on what I let both my kids put in their mouth.  Keys, pens, toys, broken pieces of glass, etc.  

I'm not sure how true that rule is, but I'm putting it out here to say I tried it and Burl's still alive and eats anything put in front of him, for the most part.  

If Fern's pallet goes anything like those bananas did, then I think we're going to be in pretty good shape.  Fern loved the bananas.  Loved the food.  And loved the full feeling that took her into her best night of sleep to date.  

Whoever she becomes,  whatever height she grows (or doesn't grow), and whichever food she picks, I love her.   I love my little girl, Charlotte Fern.