I felt like such a grown-up mom today because when I got ready to take Wes to the store with me I popped a little Tupperware into my purse filled with munchies for Wes. That’s right, he’s starting to eat finger foods!

Not heavy-duty ones, but little fruit and veggie puffs that dissolve easily in the mouth. The package says the baby should be able to crawl and pick up the puffs himself before he’s able to eat them, but I don’t give him the entire puff at once; I break off little bits and pop them in his mouth for him to suck on.

His therapist introduced the puffs to me last week when she came (otherwise I never would have thought he was ready for them). She wanted to see how his mouth handled munching on solids. It’s common for kids with Down syndrome to have a hard time working food in their mouth. Their tongues are often large, their mouths small, and low muscle tone causes their mouths to hang open a lot. Wes seems to be doing well in this area, though. When you put the cereal puff in his mouth he munches on it with his mouth closed. His therapist said that he’s doing great and has good mouth and tongue control.

Wes totally digs finger foods. Then again, so far Wes hasn’t met a food he doesn’t like. When he sees my hand moving toward his mouth he instantly drops his jaw to make room for the puff. Also, he recognizes the word “more” and when I say “More?” he’ll open his mouth for it. What a smart kid.

Here’s a video I took of him the other day eating finger foods.

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