A Few Bites and a Lot of Spitting

Except for the fighting having to take a nap, Celeste is being a charmer again today. She's taken two bottles with no problems already, and she's had some fun playtime. But the real excitement is her second chance at a taste of rice cereal.

The other week, at her four-month check up, the doctor said we could let her try cereal and to see what she thought of it. Last week, she didn't think much of it; this week it was about the same. We figure there's no reason to force it on her, but a 1⁄2 teaspoon of cereal mixed with 11⁄2 teaspoons of breastmilk as a different experience can't hurt. And if she decides to actually eat it at some point, well, she'll let us know when that is.

As with last time, most of the cereal ended up on her bib. She kept acting like she was actually going to eat it and then, whoops, her tongue pushed it back out and onto her chin(s). One time she made this brrrrrrrrrrrurrrrrrb noise that she's been practicing just as the spoon got to her lips; that spoonful ended up spraying up over her face and bib. It was really cute, and it looked like she was having fun, but the very last spoonful, I think, actually got swallowed ... because she started crying and that ended that.

The rest of the day was peaceful, some playing, some reading (The Monster at the End of This Book), some practicing rolling over (if her arms were in the right position she could flip herself from her stomach to her back, but only the first two of three times did she seem to think it was fun; the next two put her on the edge of tears), and a lot of insisting that she wasn't sleepy.

I tried a bunch of strategies to get her to sleep — gentle bouncing, singing, quiet, rocking, laying on my chest, etc. — but nothing worked until we took a walk up to the grocery store. So I wouldn't have to deal with an asleep baby attached to me, we took the stroller instead of the BabyBjörn, and about a half-hour later (after we'd gotten to the store, bought some bread, mushrooms, artichoke bottoms (the were out of hearts), and an avocado) and partway home she zonked out. Right now she's next to me, still strapped into the stroller, seemingly asleep, but starting to stir...