bub eatin'

Here's a video of Xavier eating banana's and rice cereal mixed together. He doesn't like to eat the rice cereal on it's own so I have to mix it together. He's getting the hang of opening up his mouth to eat for me. It was so cute the first few days of him eating. At first he would stick out his tongue in a u shape pushing the food out. It was just like when he's bottle feeding. I wish I had video of him eating like that it was the cutest thing. Bub's doctor instructed me to feed him baby food first and then give him the bottle. That worked out the first few days. I tried feeding him today and he took only a few bites and then started crying. I had his bottle warming in the sink so I had to drop everything, get him out of the swing(yes, he's being fed in his swing) and get the bottle. Had to test the bottle which was alittle on the hot side, Xavier crying. Fill the bowl with cold water, put the bottle in the water. Rocking the baby, shushing the baby, walk around the kitchen. Hoping the bottle is ready, Xavier crying, check the bottle again. Darn, the bottle is too cool, put bottle in hot water. Walk alittle more. Check the bottle. Not bad. Walk over to couch, put bottle down, sit baby up on my lap. He get's upset even more(for some reason he doesn't like sitting on my lap before I feed him), lay him back on my arm, baby crying, put bottle in mouth. Baby stops crying, mommy takes a deep sigh. He's eating more than two teaspoons now and as you can see by the sideways video, he opens up pretty well. I've been giving him alot of encouragment during his feedings which I know helps to keep the positive vibe going. After each feeding I've been demonstrating to him how to eat. I take a spoonful of food hold up for him, hold it about a foot away from me. I make sure I have his attention, then I tell him "this is how we eat". Then I make a very familiar sound that he recognizes which is "Aahh" as I put the spoon in my mouth. But without taking a bite I take the spoon back out. It's more like an instant replay of the action of food to mouth. You know, just like in sports when a player is shown being clobbered over and over again. The only difference with my replay and sports replay is that I don't show it in every possible angle that it can be seen in. Then I go on to mimic him by sticking my tongue out a bit with food on it, then opening...well I'll stop there. He really gets a kick out of watching me eat like this, he laughs and smiles. We have alot of fun together while I feed him. I'm just so proud of him and how he's really just coming along nicely with his development. God bless him he is still as sweet as ever and he sleeps through the night:)