The Assembly Line

We started baby cereal yesterday!  I haven't felt that Isabel and Elliana were ready for solids until the last week or so.  At 7 1/2 months of age, they are a little older than most babies who are just starting cereal, but I really wanted to keep them as babies for as long as possible to wait until the time seemed right.  They hadn't started sitting up on their own very well until just recently, and they had been acting quite satisfied with breast milk alone (except for the days when I failed to drink enough water to produce well...); so we waited.

Isabel and Elliana got their new space-saver high chairs over the weekend, and feeling like the time was finally right, we put them to use right away.  I have to admit, the first time feeding two babies was a little trickier than feeding just one.  After nursing, I rounded up two bibs and two spoons and two cups of water (all coordinating, of course :-)) and put the girls in their two new matching seats.  As I mixed up the cereal, Isabel and Elliana, as if they knew what was coming, began getting a bit impatient.  I hurried to my seat in front of the highchairs and presented Isabel with her first bite.  As the spoon neared her reach, she grabbed hold of it and shoved it into her mouth.  Then, putting one spoon down and picking up the other, I scooped up Elliana's first bite.  Before the spoon was even heading in her direction, she opened her mouth as wide as could be and waited.  I continued going back and forth between them, giving each girl two bites at a time.  With each taste, both girls seemed to want the next bite even more than the last; and they began objecting to the 5-8 seconds they would have to wait in between turns.  I was going as fast as I could, trying to keep all things equal and both girls happy.  There was no waiting or talking or playing in between bites--I had a job to do!

Isabel got full first and was ready to get down and get a diaper change.  Elliana, still hungry, waited not so patiently while I carried Isabel into the living room to play with some toys (the diaper change would have to wait).  Back in the kitchen, I continued to feed Elliana until she, too, was finally full, and got her down only to discover that Isabel wasn't the only one now in need of a diaper change.  I carried Elliana to the changing table, and immediately after getting her taken care of, I scooped up Isabel to do the same for her.  As I finished with Isabel and looked at my two full, clean, contented babies, I paused for a moment and let out a sigh as I said to my husband, "I feel like a one-woman assembly line!" :-)