Drumroll, please….
Khloe had her first serving of rice cereal today!!
Last night was a bit of a rough night sleep-wise, and I finally just had enough. I thought it would be the perfect time to try starting solids and to see if that will help with her nighttime sleep at all. Plus, it’s good timing with Kory still being home this week to be here for this monumental step. He actually wasn’t home for the very first attempt this morning (he is gone all day today doing training at the Kutztown Chick-fil-A), but that was probably going to be the case anyway with how much he is working each day this week. I wanted her first attempt to be in the morning so I could observe her the rest of the day to make sure she didn’t have any averse reactions to the cereal. Since her body seems to have taken it well, my plan is to have her next rice cereal feeding be tomorrow evening either at dinner or around bedtime to see if it will help her make it through the night better. Here’s hoping!
As for the actual feeding this morning, Khloe did pretty well for her first time! She opened her mouth for the spoon each time and actually swallowed at least part of each bite (although much also ended up on her chin and bib). She did make a face at the unfamiliar taste of the rice mixed in with the milk, but overall she took it pretty well as I encouraged her and made positive “mmm, yummy!” sounds and faces the whole time. It was a slooooow process (as I expected it would be), but I didn’t rush her at all and waited patiently for her to be ready for each bite. She finally let me know she had had enough (she took about half of what I had prepared, since I had no idea how much she would eat), and I just snuggled her and gushed over how well she had done. We’ll see how round 2 goes tomorrow night!
The other big girl accomplishment from today was that she took her naps without being swaddled! This is HUGE for Khloe because she always needs to be swaddled to sleep for a long period of time. I finally decided to try to start teaching her to sleep without it to see how she does. Her first nap today she only slept about 30 mins before she woke herself up with an arm movement. She then went back to sleep and slept for another 45 minutes. Her afternoon nap was then also 45 minutes. She usually sleeps for longer, but for the first day of not being swaddled…not too shabby!
I know it seems silly and these are still just “baby” milestones, but I couldn’t help but get a little emotional today–especially for the rice cereal feeding. She really is growing up! My emotions aren’t rooted in nostalgia for her younger days or denial that she’s getting bigger. She is getting more delightful each day, and I don’t wish she were younger again at all. It’s just this incredible rush of joy and strong tugging on my heart strings to watch our little girl grow and pass through these stages…I can’t really explain it. I’ve watched other children grow up, but it is totally different when it’s your own child. I guess I’ve heard that my whole life, but now…I finally understand. 
Goodness, listen to me. Imagine what an emotional wreck I’ll be when she starts walking or loses her first tooth. Or even worse…when she goes to take her driver’s test! Gah…
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