End of An Era

Sorrows and joys breathed the same atmosphere today at my house. On the sorrows side of the ledger, my body hurt more from Lyme disease than it ever has. The new antibiotic I started yesterday has hurled me back into a bacteria “die-off,” and my neurological and arthritic symptoms had me in pretty good discomfort all day. It was another chance, if nothing else, to see what I’m willing to put my body through in order to give my daughter the closest thing possible to a normal day. We certainly had more laughs than tears today, as usual.

On the joys side of the ledger, baby tried her first solid food tonight – with her mom and I breathlessly hovering around her baby chair. Of the tablespoonful of organic brown rice cereal mixed with breast milk that I prepared for her, she may or may not have actually swallowed a few microscopic grains. Her eyes certainly widened more than once, as she struggled to take in the significance of the event. As some had counseled, we tried introducing the food with a finger, specifically my index finger, with the rationale that it might seem more familiar than a cold metal spoon. (Tomorrow we belatedly buy a rubber-coated baby spoon.) When the finger didn’t seem to work, we tried a teaspoon. I would say mommy, who flew her tiny spoonful into baby’s mouth with propeller-plane sound effects, had more success than daddy, who flew his in silently and then, in desperation, to jet-plane sound effects.

While baby may not have ordered crème brulée for dessert, she didn’t cry, we seem to have aroused her curiosity and, given that she’s related to both her mother and her father, something tells me she’s going to really, really like food.