Peaches & Strawberries & Finger Foods, oh my!

Since my last post, William has tried peaches and strawberries, and is showing a lot more interest in finger foods.  He's always loved the smear/suck method of finger-feeding, where Mama puts a blob of something on the tray, William smears it around, then sucks it off his hands with accompanying slurps.  Avocado is a particular favorite, as its thick texture sticks to the hands well, and it makes a great hair conditioner!

Here are some favorite finger foods:
Avocado
Sweet potato
Baked apple
Ripe pear
All cut into small cubes, which are slimy and very difficult for chubby little hands to get a hold of! Most of these end up in William's bib pocket or lap, but it's good fine motor practice.

Just yesterday I gave William a very thin slice of ripe pear, and he found this much easier to grasp! He could hold it in his hand, and instead of it becoming lost in his fist like the little cubes, it stuck out the top and he could actually get it into his mouth. Be sure the pear is very ripe and soft if you try this with a new finger-feeder!

I've used the peaches and strawberries very simply so far, just mixed with yogurt, or mashed or cubed/sliced on their own as finger food. Tomorrow I'll try something a little different for breakfast:

Creamy Herbed Berry Oatmeal
1/4 portion of prepared oats ("Oatmeal Baby Cereal") mixed with 1 Tbsp whole milk plain yogurt, 1 mashed ripe strawberry and 1 finely chopped fresh basil leaf.

Basil is surprisingly delicious with summer fruits like berries, mango, pineapple, melon, etc!

A side note: I've been enjoying using my Wean Machine as a quick, easy tool to mash soft foods.  I'll do a product review soon, after I've tried it with a variety of different foods.