spaghetti, watermelon and messes

It is a fun thing to introduce Ellie to new foods...especially since she is such a good eater. Recently she tried spaghetti and watermelon and LOVED them both. At first she wouldn't eat the watermelon I had cut into pieces and put on her tray. But when I gave her watermelon on the rind she went to town and couldn't get enough. Now she eats it when I put it on her tray without a rind.

I think it's safe to say spaghetti is the most messy meal she's had

Ellie also LOVES to eat chicken, beans (refried and pinto are the only ones we've tried so far), bread, cheese and scrambled eggs. At nearly 10 months she's also had pizza, creepy crawlers (German pancakes), muffins, waffles, yogurt, ice cream, steak (yep really tender flank steak and she LOVED it!) and a sour patch kid! She is funny about fruit. In the beginning she ate strawberries but won't touch them now. She won't eat bananas cut up on her tray, but she eats them when I mash them up and put them in her rice cereal. Mandarine oranges and peaches were spit back out. I don't know if it's a texture thing or flavor thing but fruit has been the most challenging...which surprised me. WHO doesn't like fruit??? She does a little better with veggies. She'll eat carrots, potatoes, celery and corn. She is a water girl all the way. She does not like juice at all. Another surprise for me. Though there are a few things she won't eat she is a FANTASTIC eater and I hope it stays this way.

Ellie is so curious and into everything. While I shower and get ready for the day she entertains herself in our room, the bathroom or both. Here are a few pictures of how she keeps busy.

Ellie has taken a real liking to the book shelf in our room. She LOVES to pull out the magazines and books one by one...and sometimes she'll start to chew and eat them.

And here she is in cotton ball heaven. What a fun discovery this was!

She still crawls over to the shower and pulls back the curtain to check things out when she doesn't see me. Sometimes she has gotten pretty wet but she doesn't seem to mind because she still does it.