Month 5-Food Frustrations and Middle Names
5 Months with Digby
We have been
staying pretty busy here at Casa Wilson. The last few weeks Carter has been
changing so much. We’ve established a really good schedule for us and he is
sleeping and napping pretty well. Well, most nights at least. One of the biggest
changes was adding food into Carter’s diet. Feeding Carter has always been kind
of a touchy subject for me. I wasn’t able to breastfeed as long as I had
planned. We had to supplement feedings with formula from the day we brought
Carter home from the hospital. I tried everything: prescription drugs, herbal
supplements, and every wives tale in the books. It was an incredibly trying
time for me and while the decision to strictly use formula was the right one
for us, there were still feelings of failure and worries of judgment. But there
have been a lot of advantages to having Carter strictly be a formula baby.
Shelby can feed him in the middle of the night which allows us to alternate
nights on and it has helped Shelby bond with Carter. Going back to work was a
lot easier not having to worry about pumping and we quickly settled into nice
routine.
Then Carter’s 4 month check-up rolls around and the doctor told us we
can start Carter on rice cereal. I was initially excited about getting to feed
Carter real food that is until we fed Carter real food. The kid HATED rice
cereal. He was completely disinterested and, boy, did he get mad. We tried over
and over again, but he never warmed up to it. We tried different consistencies,
different temperatures, you name it. He wanted none of it. I quickly got
frustrated, reliving the discouragement I felt while trying to nurse. My kid
was never going to eat real food! He’d go off to elementary school with a
bottle in his lunch box. But then I shook it off and did some research. My mom
gave me this great book put out by the American Academy of Pediatrics and it has become my go to source for questions. That
book, along with a few other websites, assuaged my concerns and was assured
that some kids just aren't ready for food at 4 months and that rice cereal
doesn’t have to be the first thing they eat. So just before he turned 5 months
we tried green beans. The first try was tough with results similar to the
dreaded rice cereal but gradually he started to eat. He mimicked us as we
showed him how to chew and swallow. He started to open his mouth wide and slurp
green beans off the spoon. I was elated! We’ve had green beans for two weeks
and no reactions so now we’ll move on to other green vegetables (peas), then
yellow vegetables (squash), and then orange veggies (carrots and sweet potatoes).
The doctor told us to save fruits for last because that is all he will want to
eat if we start with that. Anyhow, I’m glad to have survived yet another
milestone!
First Day of Green Beans
Last Day of Green Beans
After looking
back over the blog I realized that we never really addressed how Carter’s
middle name, Quinn, came to be. After exhausting the list of family names and
not finding the right one to go with Carter, we turned back to our first name
list. Quinn was on that list and one I think Shelby and I both liked. I’m not sure
the exact moment we decided on it but here are the reasons why we selected it.
When I was growing up some of my favorite memories with my dad involve
listening to Oldies music. My favorite band growing up was The Monkees and when
I went to college my radio was permanently tuned to the Oldies station. One of
my favorite songs was “The Mighty Quinn” (I used to want to get a really big
dog, like a Mastiff, and name him Mighty Quinn). The version I was most familiar
with was the one performed by Manfred Mann. It was only later that I discovered
the song was actually written by Bob Dylan. Dylan is one of Shelby’s favorites
and so he liked the origin of the name more because of that. I think one of the
things that sealed the deal was when I was pregnant and “Like a Rolling Stone”
came on the radio and Carter started moving and kicking really hard. When the
song was over he calmed down (to this day Carter really likes when Bob Dylan
plays in my car). So Quinn seemed like the perfect marriage of my sentimentality
and Shelby’s rock and roll sensibilities. Plus, “Q” is a pretty cool and unusual
initial and it sounds good with “C”. In case you haven't heard it before (or haven't heard it in a while), here ya go!
Here are some of my other favorite moments from the last month!
Relaxing
Getting used to the bouncer!
We love bath time! He has started turning the pages in the book himself!!
