A Lazy Person’s Guide to Weaning

Dear Milo,

In recent weeks, meals have become a family activity as we’ve started weaning you. This means you not only sit at the table with us, but you also join everyone else in the struggle to eat as we ourselves try to find the time to eat while teaching you how to eat in general. It has been a relatively fun learning process and I’ll highlight it with my hot tips on weaning which may or may not come in handy for you in the future.

Weaning has had other consequences, some better than others. I think your mother has rediscovered some fun in the kitchen as she figures out what foods for you to try next. I’ve had to start accepting that it’s just a damn messy process, which is not easy since I’m a bit OCD about staying clean and neat. There’s extra stuff for us to wash up now, and we contribute significantly to the baby product market by buying this that and whatever we think will ease you into this new phase of your life. Even Kili has also discovered a new source of food — your scraps that you knowingly and unknowingly toss aside. And of course, who can forget the poop? It’s starting to turn solid, you’re producing a lot of it (your personal best = 8 times in a day), and it stinks to the high heavens.

The most rewarding part for us when it comes to weaning you is watching you develop your own confidence and independence through the process. You’ll wave us off, pound the table when you want food, signal and reach for us when we are feeding you too slow, and want to hold your own spoon and aim it at your nose. You’ve even gone on a nursing strike in favor of drinking milk from your sippy cup, which means you’ll waste half of it spraying it back out. Sometimes it’s annoying, but it’s always very cute.