Food Battles

Oh, Cooper...

What is it with my child and eating?! Last week Cooper decided he didn't want his bottle anymore, which is fine since he's almost a year old. He had been drinking 4 6-oz bottles a day, and he quickly cut out one and then two of those bottles early last week. By the end of the week, he was only drinking his morning bottle, and I was getting him up at night before I went to bed to give him another bottle (possibly risking starting a horrible habit too).

We had been practicing with the sippy cup with little luck before then (he liked to crawl around while holding it in his mouth with his teeth); however, once he figured out how that thing worked, he started to boycott his bottle. The new problem, though, is that he won't drink formula out of the sippy cup. I called the pediatrician's office and they said to go ahead and try whole milk. Of course, he won't drink that either...yet. He loves water and apple juice though. This kid gives me quite some major headaches over eating!

Anyway, I've also been trying to get him to eat more real food and less baby food and to do it by himself when he can. This, of course, is also not smooth sailing for us. He is so picky, and I just don't know what to do!!!

For his first all-real-food meal, I gave him mashed sweet potatoes, bananas, and cheese-all his favorites. He did pretty good too. I was very proud of him.

He was some kind of a mess when he was done, so I carried him to the kitchen sink and sprayed him off. He loved that!

After a quick clothes change, he even took an interest in loading his plate in the dishwasher...

or maybe it was just an interest in the dishwasher itself. :)