Sitting Up and Sweet Potatoes

Siena is really getting after things these days! I just love watching her grow more and more every day. She is such a joy to watch...and it forces me to look at the world through the eyes of a child. Who would have thought mashed up sweet potatoes or sitting up all by yourself could be the greatest of things? But they are...
I have decided to take on the task of making Siena's baby food. I really love to cook, and although I can't make great pasta dishes or pieces of meat for her (yet), I thought it would be a fun little adventure for me to take on. I tend to be a little bit of a perfectionist, so sometimes I find that I make it way more difficult than it actually has to be. But I think that may be a common thread in a number of things I do. :) That being said, it's a really great feeling to finally sit down with a small hunk of potatoes and see how she reacts to the new tastes and textures. I never thought I would get so excited.
We started out the first couple of weeks with boring, ol' rice cereal. After 2 weeks of that, I went to the store, bought 6 huge sweet potatoes, cooked them up, threw them in the food processor, and distributed them into little baby ice cube trays to freeze. It's super handy! I just make up a ton of little cubes, throw them in a freezer bag, and now I can just pull them out whenever she's ready to eat! It's great! She really caught on super quick. She of course made funny faces and got the food all over the place, but I didn't hear any complaints! I have fed her sweet potatoes in the morning for 4 mornings in a row, just to make sure she liked them and had no allergic reactions to them. So far so good! Next on the list is avocados, or as we like to call it, "baby guac". It's been really fun to watch her get the hang of eating and start to really enjoy and look forward to food.
At first, she was more interested in playing with the food and the spoon. Now, she actually lets me feed her, and just sits there waiting for the next bite.




Also, in the past week, Siena has decided to sit up on her own. It was kind of an all-of-a-sudden thing. One day she was still pretty wobbly and you couldn't leave her to sit up on her own. Now, she's a pro! It's fun to see her sitting up, playing with her toys, and gaining enough balance to reach for things around her. Every once in a while, we hear a little clunk, and she's toppled over on her side...but even that doesn't seem to bother her too much. I think she feels like a big girl too..or in this case, a big koala bear. :)
Man, Siena's growing up fast! The best journey ever though...