The C seal of approval. Part V.

Nico is 5 months and 4 weeks old today.

I've learnt yet another trick lately. Make Nicolas laugh and, faster than a speeding bullet, shove the spoon in his mouth. Make sure that the spoon is full. Some of it is bound to trinkle down his throat before he gives me his best betrayed look and raspberries the unswallowed stuff out onto my glasses, which he likes to inspect every so often.

Trick or not, it seems fruits are decidedly tastier than vegetables.

• Wattie's Pear & Banana. Sweet smell and taste which was very easily eaten and I didn't get much leftovers from this one, barely a spoon to lick. Definitely on the buy-again list. If not for Nico, then for me.
  
  
  
• Wattie's Carrot & Rice. It's also got a pretty solid consistency, like chocolate mousse. OK, the mousse doesn't have to be chocolate. Anyway, I got overhopeful (or maybe I just didn't care any more) and served Nico half the container. Because it was so solid, the Traitor technique (see above for ste-by-step instructions) wasn't successful and the food just squirted out like orange toothpaste after some gagging. The rest went to our L'Organic Kollector I (tm) food disposal system, also known as L.O.K.I. Will get Ba Ngoai to coerce some more into Nico if she can.
  




• Wattie's Pear, Guava & Strawberry. I didn't get to taste this one much, Nico ate it all. I can tell I'm going to have some competition over the good foods (namely chocolate) when he grows up. Maybe it was the pear, maybe not, but Daddy got treated to an explosive nappy that traumatised him for a few hours. It's a bit like the ringing in your ears when you hear a really loud sound, except that this particular explosion and its lingering effects were olfactory and visual.

So I still have lots of that Farex baby rice in the pantry, I may mix it with some apple to give it a bit of taste. Donna & Phil gave me a link to http://www.greenmonkey.co.nz/, which has got an interesting range of products and a really useful chart which will be hanging on our fridge shortly.

And by the looks of it Nico has worked out a trick himself; before each meal, he will clench his lower lip, making it impossible for me to push a spoon between his lips without spilling the contents all over the place. Only then will he taste whatever landed on his lips and decide whether he'll carry this on with the next spoonful, or open his mouth if it is deemed edible.