Feeding, Self-feeding, and Self-weaning

Recently Ed has been managing to hold a sippy cup for himself, and here's the proof. He drops it occasionally, manages to retrieve it some of the time, and works out which end to suck on eventually. This allows me to take a more supervisory role at feeding time, very handy and easier on the knees. Ed seems to enjoy his new responsibilities too. He's also managed to feed from a sippy cup while sitting in the stroller, even while on the move, though he doesn't understand about holding the bottom of the cup high when it's getting low on milk. He's now weighing 19 1/4 lbs.

We're closing on the time when we will be introducing some solid food into his diet, and we're leaning towards a self-weaning system. (Beth adds: for our American readers, "weaning" in this case is not the American definition of stopping breastmilk, but rather the British definition of adding complementary foods.) The idea is that you feed him as normal, but then offer some solid food in baby finger-sized sticks, for him to play with, stick in his mouth, taste and eventually chew and swallow. Rather than mushing up the food, this retains the food in a recognisable shape. Lengths of apple or other fruits, Steamed carrots, broccoli, and all sorts of vegetables lend themselves to this approach.

Before this starts we're getting a high chair, and he'll take bottles in the high chair before we start on the solid food.

Ed's also been practising his gorilla sit, and though a steadying and catching hand is still required, he's already getting better at balancing on his butt. I'm also allowing him more self-balancing on the potty, holding my hands in a curve in front of him instead of holding his torso directly, and that's giving him more balancing practise. We also use a curved cushion, visible in some of the latest pictures above, to help him sit up, and to cushion his tumbles. The cushion previously served as a support during breast feeding when he was very small.

He's very quick to flip to his front when he chooses, but still can't roll from front to back. A couple of nights ago he got up on hands and knees and started rocking, a prelude to crawling, though for now he tends to slide backwards when he tries to do more than that.