Mashed Potatoes

The last few nights (when it hasn't been raining) we have been grilling out and enjoying dinner on our deck. Lydia goes with me to Pottstown to pick out options for dinner for 2-4 nights. We alternate between their various marinated chicken breasts to specialty pork chops or hamburger patties. We cook out on our grill and sit on our deck. Lydia has accompanied us on these evenings in her high chair. She has had chicken, pork chops, and cheddar and chive hamburger. We have been conscious of making sure she has a balanced diet that includes a variety of different fruits and vegetables. She has had everything from kiwi and blackberries to bell peppers, banana peppers, squash and okra. Tonight's adventure was mashed potatoes! In introducing Lydia to a variety of foods, we have also created a very independent eater that no longer wants to be spoon-fed by us. She loves to feed herself and has not had baby food since I have been on summer break. This is both a welcome change and a messy one. I will say, mashed potatoes have been the most interesting since we have switched from baby food. I will also say that had we been inside, at a restaurant, or in another public forum, Lydia would not have been allowed to feed herself mashed potatoes in this capacity, but we also didn't want to inhibit her self-determination or independence to feed herself and eat mashed potatoes and we knew she was going to be taking a bath immediately following dinner. In the first picture, you can also see the buds of Lydia's new teeth that are coming in. She is slowly getting her next bottom two teeth as well as is in the beginning stages of getting her top two middle teeth.