Twins' First Solids

March 13, at just over 5 months old, we decided it was time to introduce the babies to a little oatmeal cereal.  My experience with Robert was that oatmeal was not very exciting until you added banana, so I went ahead and started them out on an oatmeal/banana mix.   Mary Elizabeth thought it was the greatest experience of her little life so far (to the point of literally licking the bowl), and William was less than impressed, though he did eat everything I offered him.  Big Brother Robert was so thrilled to help, and he was in charge of feeding Mary Elizabeth..... That is, until things got too messy for him (he can't stand to have anything icky on his hands, so as soon as sister got messy and started reaching for him with her sticky hands, he was done!).

It's funny how you adapt with twins.  I planned out the feeding, made two bowls of food, and got two spoons out ready to go.  Placed everyone in their spots, and we started feeding.  As soon as things got underway, I realized alternating spoons was just plain silly, so I started using one spoon and and one bowl, alternating bites between babies.    

Here are some pictures from the big day.
 

Here's one we snapped at the end of the feeding.  Can you tell William is OVER IT?

The next day, our sweet, wonderful, irreplaceable, fantastic, super-duper (get the picture?) part-time nanny Erin was in charge of feeding.  James snapped a couple of pictures then, too. 

Since then, we have introduced avocado (big thumbs down from both of them, which surprised me because Robert loved avocado), sweet potato (reaction was huge smiles with a little, "That's what I'm talking about!" written all over their faces), pears, and apples.    After the first couple of days, our chunk William decided that spoon feedings were awesome (especially sweet potatoes), and he generally likes it more than Mary Elizabeth. 

I have found that feeding them both at one time is faster, but more stressful.  They tend to get stressed out, which gets me stressed out.   They grab at each other, grab at the spoon, and are just generally more antsy than when they are being fed one on one, so I try to feed them separately when I can.  However, sometimes, feeding them together is the only choice, as on the days that Erin isn't with us (can I tell you how much I LOVE ERIN???), I have a very short window of time (4:30 to about 6:30) to get everything done before bedtime.    On the days that Erin keeps them, she takes care of spoon feedings (as well as baths, and baby laundry, and anything else I ask of her).  She feeds them one at a time, and they often do better for her than me!  Ha!

I am making their food, which is eaten twice as quickly as with Robert (imagine that).  So, I'm making something about every 2 or 3 days.  I hope to find the time (yeah, right) in the next couple of weeks to have a big cooking day so that I can put a few different choices into the freezer to pull and use as needed. 

Instead of following this or that procedure to the tee like I did with Robert, though, I am finding lots of new ways to streamline the process.  Instead of a fancy-schmancy babyfood maker, I have a crockpot, a steamer/rice cooker, and a food processor.  I have found the easiest method to prepare sweet potatoes is to put 5-6 potatoes (individually wrapped in foil) in the crockpot overnight.  Robert loves helping wrap up the potatoes and turning on the machine.  In the morning, I let them cool (or put them into the fridge if I'm off to work), then puree them when I have time.  I am going to try that method with the butternut squash that I'm planning for this weekend.  Instead of peeling, slicing, and dicing the apples and pears, I simply cut them in half, remove the core, and pile them into the steamer.  Steam for 30 minutes, then remove the peel and puree.  So much easier than all of the prep time I did with Robert!   (I have no idea why I thought all of that was important.... but anyway, you get the picture!  Baby food is now being worked into the routine!).

I can't believe how quickly time is passing us by.  These babies change daily, and I try so hard to savor every second of this precious time.  I can't believe they'll be six months old in just a couple of weeks!