The trouble with eating

The boys have been 'eating' solids for quite some time now.

Lach is a human vaccum cleaner. There is nothing he won't devour, given half the chance. He's a big fan of spaghetti bolognaise. Loves lentils and veg. Smashes down moroccan lamb with quinoa. Grins with delight when he sees balti chicken with rice coming his way. Licks the vegemite off toast fingers, can't get enough yoghurt, and is a true-blue weetbix kid. In fact, the littlest man loves food so much that he shuts up the bottle shop if he thinks there is even the slightest whiff of possibility that real food might be coming his way. Given milk is still supposed to make up the majority of his intake, this is slightly concerning, but he always manages to get enough I think.

Hamish on the other hand, seems to have a quite dramatic textural issue. Mush off a spoon has never been a winner with him. He projectile vomits - every single time. He involuntarily shudders and gags, and the poor little mate ends up with everything all over himself.

I discovered by accident that if he can touch the food first, play with it a bit, and then put it in his mouth himself, he is much much better. He still vomits, but nowhere near as often.

So, I've been giving him things that he can pick up and munch on. But it's not good for my heart. I panic that he is going to choke. My heart is in my mouth the entire time. Especially when he sticks something too far down and goes all 'googly eyed'. I swear it will be the death of me.

The other issue I have with this style of eating is this: how can it be enough? how can it be nutritionally sound? With Lach's food, I give him everything. It all goes in the whazzer and its done. But with this stick-food approach, there are only some things that work. Not everything lends itself to becoming a 'stick' of food. I

've tried putting some of the puree in a bowl and giving him a spoon, and this works too - but the mush ends up everywhere, and he actually eats very little of it.

The challenge is finding the time to do all of this properly.

I have been blessed with very good babies - beautiful temperaments. But they don't need much sleep. And they just will not sleep at the same time. They also won't eat at the same time anymore. So I have less time than ever. There literally is barely time to make a cup of tea, and I never get to finish it. Ever.

Producing one sort of meal for one baby, a different one for the other is so much work. And, quite frankly, once the first flurry of 'ohmygosh, look at how cute you are with mooshy stuff all over your face' photos, it's just plain HARD work.

Solids. Pfff.

At the moment my life feels like groundhog day. Bottle, burb, highchairs, mush, sticks. Clean up babies. Clean up washing. Clean up floor. Clean up high chairs. Bottle, burb, and so on, and on, and on.

I'm hoping that one day is just 'clicks' into place. Please tell me that it does :)