Finger foods

We're starting to expand our finger food options beyond the baby puffy snacks. Madi's doing pretty well with her hand-mouth coordination but there are still times where you have pity and move the food from her cheek or back of her hand to her mouth. She's working on the pincher grab as opposed to "smack the table and see what sticks." Madi's had multi-grain cheerios, honey smacks (don't judge), rice krispies, banana chunks, overcooked carrots & broccoli, honeydew, cherries and mandarin oranges. We've learned a few things along the way like:  honeydew isn't soft enough yet-got choked up on that, cherries produce a very sour looking face and stain the bib, banana chunks stick to the table or get squished between the fingers although rolled in rice krispies they're easier to hold, Madi's not too sure about the Snap, Crackle, Pop of rice krispies and mandarin oranges must be squeezed so the juice runs all down her chin.

Madi manages the oranges better than the banana chunks but they're messy as you can see. It's been fun to watch her react to different textures and tastes. We're also expanding our spoon-food. Madi's had sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, pineapple, cottage cheese, chicken & noodles, mashed taters & gravy, baby yogurt, black beans, guacamole, and I even snuck her a sauteed onion. People food has been pretty exciting. Madi's becoming quite the big girl! Pete & Bruiser really appreciate the transition to real food as it's meant more "oopsies" for them. During meal time they're usually laying down right under the high chair. As soon as the high chair is vacated they've got their noses up on the foot rest sniffing and licking up whatever Madi left behind. I've even seen them come up to Madi and do a once-over for any food stuck to her. Pretty smart dogs.

Madi's been up on all fours, rocking forward and backward but no crawling yet. I like that because our house is far from baby-proof. You can usually find at least one laptop on the coffee table, the cleaning supplies aren't locked up and there are sharp edges everywhere. Madi's somewhat close but she hasn't mastered the weight shift. She'll be up on all fours, reach forward with one arm and then fall down on her chest because she lost that other support by moving her arm. It's amusing to watch her face because she'll look around, notice she's closer to her toy than before, kinda smile and then do the same thing again or turn sideways and roll to where she wants to be. Smart little bugger. I don't have a current video but I'll make sure to record one before we've moved from rocking to crawling. Guess that means sometime this weekend.

We're going to spend the 4th of July with Grandpa & Grandma Stone. Madi will have to re-visit the bear swing from Easter, see what she thinks about it now. There will plenty of time in the boat, maybe a swimming excursion and we might even take the walker to the warehouse to watch Madi zoom around. Stay tuned for more pictures and video!

Have a happy and SAFE July 4th everyone.