Eli: No more baby food

Should this have been a post, say, about 6-8 months ago? But yes, now at 20 months, I can safely and comfortably NOT buy baby food for Eli anymore.

Eli wowed many by still eating baby food at 15, 18 months, happily, and sometimes necessarily, because he'd reject everything we gave to him from the table. Since he was always on the small side, I had always packed two jars in the bag just in case, a meat (like sweet potato chicken) and a fruit (usually pears or applesauce) so he'd have something to eat when he rejects everything. So then of course, on my trips to Whole Foods, up until the last trip or two, I'd pick up a few emergency jars of the $0.65 baby food/fruit.

But now Eli has been much more cooperative about eating table food. He doesn't spit out as much as he used to. Even fruit, he gave plums a good try, usually wincing at the first sour bites or two, but then eating as much as Tobey sometimes. And even if he did spit out everything we gave him, I'd find he's just as happy and sleeps about the same as if he had a good big meal, so I'm able to be tougher on him about eating (Won't eat? Tough luck.). And so now I'm not as worried about him getting the nutrition he needs through table food. Lately, I've been just packing a fruit jar (basically, an apple or pear sauce) and sometimes, I leave the house without anything, no food safety net.

Today, in my efforts to declutter the kitchen area, I finally put away the baby food jar caddy that has been out on the counter for a year, taking up space. We're down the last 3 jars of pears and my last trip to Whole Foods I decided we didn't need to buy anymore baby food. Eli was certainly the champion of jars. And that's now behind him, and me, too.