Eric's New Tooth

Closeup of his new tooth, just starting to break through.

Well, after weeks of having just one tooth, Eric's second tooth finally broke through yesterday.  I was actually pretty surprised that it took so long because, as I wrote before, it looked like it was going to break through any time for quite awhile.

He already steals the remote control from his papi.

Lately Eric has been refusing to eat his homemade baby foods.  We can get him to eat them, but it is much more difficult than it was before.  He prefers to use his new teeth to try to eat our food.  I have finally decided to just let him eat a little bit of whatever (within reason) we are eating at the time.  He's getting close enough to the one year old point, that I figure it's not a big deal for him to eat most things by now. 

Eric tries a little piece of white cake.

Trying out a cake recipe with food colorings.  I ended up making some little cupcakes.

Eric's doctor, on the other hand, is very picky about waiting to introduce a lot of foods to him.  She only wanted us to give him white fish for now, and only the yolk of eggs, and wanted us to wait until he turned ten months old for either.  I had already been giving him fish when I went to his 9 month appointment.  From what I had read, not only have they determined in the last few years that waiting to introduce foods doesn't seem to help keep a baby from developing food allergies, I have even just recently seen one study where waiting too long to introduce egg whites actually made it around five times more likely for the baby to develop an allergy to them.  So, after reading up on it all, I've been less picky about what Eric can eat in small quantities.   
Trying new things makes it much easier to feed Eric.  I think part of the problem is that he was getting bored with the same foods day after day.  Yes, he does want to imitate us, but he also wants to try new things.  By trying new things, we found a new solid food that Eric rapidly swallowed so that we would feed him more, a blue fish called caballa.  He loved it!! Normally when we feed him meats, he sits and chews them for long periods of time without swallowing them.  It’s frustrating because he keeps his mouth full, so he won’t eat anything else.

Eggs have been the same way.  He gobbles them down. I have soft boiled eggs for him, and at first I was only giving him the egg yolk.  Lately, though, I’ve also given him a bit of the egg white, and he seems to love it.  That must come from his daddy since I find hard boiled eggs to be one of the grossest things ever.
So, I still try to give him mostly nutritious foods, but I do let him at least try most things that we are eating now. 
So, the other day when I was playing around with ideas for his upcoming birthday cake, I decided that I would let Eric help me decide if I was choosing a cake that he would like for his birthday.
I found a simple recipe that wasn't too sweet (because it's actually meant to be infused later with a sugar syrup to keep it moist), and I let Eric try it.  I played with food colorings, too, because I want the cake to be fun both outside and inside.  The colors turned out much better than I imagined, even having used very little coloring.  Once the cake is baked, the colors are much more vibrant than the batter ever was.  Eric seemed to enjoy the little piece of cake I gave him. See for yourself, I think he likes it.  Now, I just have to play with fillings and coverings.  I want to make him a fondant covered cake with an "under the sea" theme, just like his room.  This will be my first attempt at using fondant, so wish me luck!  :)

Little cupcake covered in fondant. I was playing around with it, trying different techniques out for fun.

So, now that he's starting to get his teeth in, his dentist mommy gives him something with sugar in it.  Bad mommy!! 

To be fair, though, I have to insist that he usually eats very healthy, and it was a very small piece of cake.  Plus, just look at how well he brushes his little teeth already!!