A is for Adelaide, Achondroplasia and AVOCADO!

First food: Avocado… and it was yummy!

Dave and I decided, long before we knew boy or girl, that our baby would have avocado as their first food. As lovers of the fruit (yes, it’s a fruit), we were pretty excited for the opportunity to share it with our little one. I was concerned when we learned about Addie’s diagnosis, because, often, achondroplastic children learn to sit later, have larger adenoids, and have oral issues, etc. Addie, however, is doing great and we were given the green light at her 4 month appointment to start solids!

I wanted to make sure Addie had the best food. A family member passed along a jar of stage 2 food (due to expire in September) and a few “to-go” pouches of organic fruits, some stage 1 and 2. Knowing that I would not be using the stage 2 before it’s expiration, I ate it myself (mmmmm) and saved the jar for my first foray into making Addie’s food.

Hesitant to begin with anything but cereal, Dave and I decided to stick to our original plan and begin with avocado. As an “expert”, I went to Stop & Shop and searched through each green fruit until I found one that was almost ripe, but slightly soft. I let it sit in the windowsill for a day before opening it up. I started by cutting off the tips of either end, where it was nice and soft, and scooped out the contents with a spoon. I then added some of my milk and mashed. And mashed. And mashed. I then added more milk. And mashed. When it got to the consistency of slightly thickened breast milk, I capped the glass jar, formerly containing an organic banana mix, and put it in the refrigerator.

And then, Saturday morning came. As I placed Addie in her highchair, I was nervous. Allergies were a concern, more so, growing up. My newborn became a baby, my baby will grow until she doesn’t want to be my baby anymore and then what? I’ll tell you what: it all begins with avocado.

August 25, 2012. Addie enjoys avocado!  She is a champ with a spoon- knowing to open for it AND liking avocado! We tried it at her 11am feeding- giving her a few baby spoons full, then cleaning her up and offering her usual bottle of freshly pumped milk. She did beautifully:

Because Addie is only 4 months, we plan  on giving her one new food every week, instead of every few days. We are planning on squash, sweet potatoes and oatmeal cereal, as rice cereal is so binding and (only in my opinion, and I am not a doctor) has minimal nutritional value. I was originally so nervous to begin the solids because as a parent of a child with dwarfism, you only read about kids who can’t sit up, or swallow, or breathe properly, and not about the kids who don’t have a million surgeries. I feel like we are so very blessed to have Addie in our lives because she can and will teach us so much about ourselves, about life, about acceptance, about endurance and, because she loves avocado.

If you missed the love… I made a second video!