Our 2nd Food Trial: Spinach, Day 1

This weekend was... well...a weekend. When it's just mom and the girls, the girls nap. We go places and do things and have fun but, for the most part, we organize these things around making sure that G gets one solid nap each day and Ellie gets some down time too. When it's the weekend and Dad is home, all bets are off. A BBQ with friends, a movie in the park that didn't even start until 8 and the airshow were all fun, but left the girls absolutely wiped out.

So... Ellie slept until 8 (!!!) this morning and, although G woke at 6:30 to nurse, she went back down easily and slept until 9:30. That's right, I said 9:30. When she did finally wake up, I was ready for her! No pears. Not today. Today, I was ready with a 1/2 teaspoon (yes, we increased our 'starting' amount) of pureed spinach. (I decided that, at least for this first day, we should feed her the new food exclusively and besides, we're out of pears and need to make more tonight. Oops.) She gets SO excited just being buckled into her seat. Each time, as I'm buckling and she's squealing and crazily waving her hands around with pure, unrestrained joy and anticipation of food, I feel a little sad. I would just LOVE to let her dive into something, let it cover her face, get in her hair... and she would love it too... I can't, at least not yet. Maybe someday soon.

But today, she can have spinach. Honestly, unless it's mixed in with other foods (like cheese!) or other greens, I'm not a huge fan. Am I alone in thinking it tastes a bit like dirt might taste? Anyhow, I thought feeding Genevieve spinach might be a struggle but she proved me wrong. It was only 1/2 of a teaspoon but she loved every last bit. So far, so good. No puking, no sign of anything bad. She's a smiling kid who pitched a fit when the spinach was all gone. Good girl :)

And just a word about the spinach itself. I bought a huge container of triple-washed, organic baby spinach. Huge. We steamed it, pureed it and ended up with... 11 teaspoons. Maybe I should just down spinach in this condensed form to get the nutrients too?

Later today we're heading to the allergist to start the patch testing for milk, eggs and soy. I'm excited and nervous all at once. Fingers have been crossed. Prayers have been said. Toys have been packed to keep Ellie entertained while we're there. Wish us luck.