I DON'T like spinach, Mom!

We tried to feed the baby boy spinach last night. Goopy spinach goo, not fresh salad stuff. I knew it was a long shot, but still...

Quint definitively does not like spinach. He got it everywhere, including the crease in his neck. The bowl of spinach thickened with rice cereal looked a whole lot like yesterday's diaper contents. His habit of taking a bite then putting his fingers in his mouth resulted in the spinach going all over the highchair toys, both his arms, his face, both my hands up to the wrists, and all over the highchair tray.

Daddy tried to feed him the spinach for a while, then we switched chores and he finished cooking dinner. By the time I took over, Quint was near tears and 2 bites more resulted in all out crying. And then he started refusing to take bites. He would see the bowl nearby and open his mouth for a bite, then look at the spoon and snap his mouth shut, lips very tight, crying. Think about that...how often do you see a baby cry with their mouth shut. He'd gotten through 2/3rds of the bowl at that point, so I relented.

I dumped some breast milk in a fresh bowl, nuked it for 10 seconds and stirred in a lot of rice cereal, making it the thickness he likes. He saw that it was white and opened right up for the spoon. After the first bite, he stopped crying completely. He proceeded to eat the bowl of cereal as fast as I could poke it in his mouth. He wimpered a bit when the bowl was empty, but quickly got over it and played happily in his piano toy while I gobbled down my own supper.

It's amazing how babies as young as 6 months old can communicate so clearly what they want to tell you. Ok, so no more spinach. At least not straight. I might try to add one ice cube of spinach to a bowl full of green beans, just to use it up. But maybe I should just pitch it and waste a whole, what 30 cents?

Spinach was Tuesday, so we'll try carrots on Friday.