"New" Baby

I must say, it has only been a few days since Meo started scooting around the house, but already it feels like he is a new baby. I am inclined to both mourn the passing of his very dependent stationary days, and to celebrate his excitement as a whole new world has just opened up to him. His is fast and curious and utterly adorable. I feel like I am starting to get to know him in a new way; I am now able to see what sorts of things fascinate him as he scoots over to explore them. He is learning so fast, and he is so happy and excited about everything right now. I was worried that once he started crawling around he wouldn't want to have anything to do with me anymore, but so far that's not the case. If anything, we have even more fun playing now and have all sorts of new games to master. And when he wants some mommy love, he just starts scooting in my direction and tugs at my pants, and it melts my heart. So far, the things he is most fascinated with are pulling books off his book shelf, knocking down block towers once he reaches them across the room, playing with cat toys, scooting after the cats, and wires (eek). Needless to say, we are working on some serious baby proofing this week.  Here is a video of Meo and Buddy this morning:

We talked a little bit about food at our pediatrician visit yesterday, and that has also led to some pretty big changes for us. I had been putting off introducing Meo to wheat products and nut products, not really sure when it was appropriate for him to have those things. Apparently, a lot of nutrition books say that you should put off introducing those foods until there system is more mature. However, pediatricians now agree that it is best to introduce those highly allergenic foods early on. So she encouraged us to start giving him things like toast and cheerios and peanut butter and almond butter soon. She also said that since we have Meo on a vegetarian diet that it is especially important that we make sure he consumes enough iron. Up to this point, I had been making his grains on my own by grinding foods like quinoa, barley, rice, and oatmeal in a coffee grinder then cooking them on the stove top. But the whole grains that we have been consuming are not fortified, and she suggested that we start giving him grains that are fortified with iron. This makes my life a little easier because now I feel comfortable just buying some of the baby food grains at Whole Foods which don't require any cooking and are pumped up with nutrition. There is one brand of food that looks especially good to me called Happy Baby Foods. They organic, completely natural and enriched with things like iron, probiotics and DHA (for brain development). So far Meo likes the Happy Baby Foods brand sweet potato puffs; stay tuned to see how he likes the oatmeal and mixed grains. I guess feeding him Cheerios is also a good idea because they have lots of iron, are tasty, and are fun for babies to pick up and eat. Meo had some Cheerios and bananas for breakfast this morning and loved them.

Eating Cheerios for the first time (8 months)

I really do love watching Meo grow and cheering him on as he embarks on new adventures. I feel like we are both learning together, and it is a wonderful, exciting time!