Momma Mondays - Cheerio!

My son has always been big for his age. He was 21 pounds by the time he was 9 months, had a bountiful head of hair, and he had 8 glorious teeth as well. He was in the 90th percentile for height and 75th for weight. This 9 month old was often mistaken for being at least one year.

Although he grew quickly and sturdily, he lagged behind in other developmental areas. He didn't crawl til he was 10.5 months, is still not standing, and has not shown interest in solid food unless it is of the finely pureed variety.

Now, my friend Ellen has a daughter who's been eating Cheerios by the handful since she was 7 months old. I'm not saying that Knox should compete; I'm just saying that he has twice as many teeth as she does and is three months older. I don't care that he didn't eat Cheerios at 7 months, but at one year? Come on.

So I've been working with him. At his 9 month check up, the doctor said we should be thickening his food and I should be offering him O-cereal, banana, toast, crackers, pieces of fruit, etc. He didn't believe me that Knox gagged the minute I forced a Cheerio into his mouth. He had never seen a baby clamp his lips closed tightly and jerk his head from side to side the minute he saw a Cheerio headed his way. The doctor couldn't believe that a baby Knox's size and age was that big under the simple diet of breastmilk and Stage 1 jarred baby food three times a day.

After this check up, I rolled up my sleeves and set to work. Every day, I attempted to give Knox three Cheerios. I forced them into his mouth or broke them into thirds and sneaked them into his food. The moment Knox felt the crunchy object on the tip of his tongue (the tip!) he would gag as if it were all the way back in his throat and unless I scraped it off, he would make himself throw up. So then we would both take a break. Give it a day or two and try a graham cracker or banana instead, which he also denied. If it didn't come from a blender, he hated it all.

And during this solid food boot camp, I ate this stuff, too. With gusto! I would chomp down on a Cheerio like it was a four star meal. I would dramatize the biting so he could see my teeth chomping. I would give myself high praise, clapping for myself, and mmm-mmming like it was super delicious. After a month of this, Knox started to open his mouth when I would offer him a bite... and then he would spit it out immediately. By 11 months, he was showing interest in the food, touching it and throwing it on the ground. (He really hates when the cereal gets soggy and sticks to his fingers.)

And finally, last week, he opened his mouth and allowed me to give him a Cheerio. He bit down, worked it around in his mouth, and I gave him oodles of praise. I yelled, danced, cheered, and clapped. "Go Knox! Momma's so proud of you!" And then he giggled and spat it out.

But today - oh glorious today - my son ate a Cheerio. Not only did he eat it, but he fed himself! Not only did he feed himself a Cheerio, he popped 'em in one after another like a starving man! I am so happy. He is one year and one week old and finally eating Cheerios like his other baby pals. I know this milestone isn't walking, or talking, or anything huge to most folks, but I'm the proudest woman on the planet. And although I realize that this is his moment, I feel like a huge success myself.

Fan Club Friday - Where I Belong

Let me say that you know you're into a book when it makes you homesick. That's just what Gwendolyn Heasley's book Where I Belong did to me. Readers Beware: As if having a baby doesn't make you miss your folks and grandparents enough, as if sweltering subways and crowded sidewalks don't make you long for winding roads with the windows rolled down, and as if pizza slices and bagels don't make you yearn for fried chicken and biscuits, you pick up a novel like Where I Belong and start to ponder the book title yourself.

This YA novel follows Corrinne, a New York City Upper East Sider who's life is full of "shopping sprees at Barney's" and "open access to the best clubs and parties." She's got it all, from designer clothes to an expensive education, and she takes it all for granted because, hey! Why shouldn't she? Her lifestyle may seem unbelievable to me, but to her, it's the way things have always been.

But then, her father is laid off and their family takes a powerful blow from the recession. They lose their entire savings and are forced to sell their sprawling Manhattan apartment. Corrinne is forced to move to Texas to live with her little brother and grandparents, attend public school, and leave behind her horse and best friends. She has to shop at the mall (gasp!), lose her spot at boarding school, and get a job... shoveling manure! It may not sound bad to you, (okay, the horse poop might), but remember, the small town lifestyle is some kind of alternate universe for her. She may as well have moved to Mars.

Now, I was worried that maybe I wouldn't feel for somebody like Corrinne. When we first meet her, she is snobby and stuck up, selfish and immature, and to put it plainly, not the kind of person I would want as a friend. (Heasley pens a letter from Corrinne at the jump off asking us to give her a chance, which I think was really smart. I mean, I grew up in the kind of place where driving an hour away to shop at the mall was a luxury!) But then throughout the course of the novel, this character really grows on you. You find yourself cracking along with her as she loosens up and starts eating those deliciously described southern foods. You smile at Grandpa's peace-making efforts and laugh at Grandma's sassy attitude. And as cute as Rider is and as sexy as musicians are, you can't help but like a good ol' boy like Bubby. The fact that we're actually rooting for Corrinne by the end says a lot about the author's talent.

Where I Belong was a fun read and a good time. I still think about Corrinne every now and then. I wonder how much of her southern roots she brought back with her to the big city; cause the post-Texas Corrinne had a heckuva lot more self-confidence and surprisingly turned out to be a girl I would call a friend after all.

You can follow Gwendolyn Heasley at where_I_belong on Twitter.

Also, check out this amazing blurb she wrote for my book, The Queen of Kentucky:

"Whitaker's debut sparkles as she takes the reader on a tour of two unforgettable places: small town Kentucky and the heart of our charming and hilarious narrator, Ricki Jo."

- Gwendolyn Heasley, author of Where I Belong