Raising a Part-Time Vegetarian

The Pumpkin is almost 6 months old, yet she has been eyeing our food for at least a month. She goes after everything we eat, so I decided that it was time to start solids.  This weekend was going to be the weekend we took the leap. As any other working mom knows, I can't actually do something this momentous on a weekday any longer.  I went all out, and we took a trip to BabiesR'Us (don't get me started on this money pit) to gather the neccessary materials -

• Hi-Chair - check
• Bowl - check
• Spoon - check
• About a million other things she didn't need - check
• Organic Brown Rice Cereal - check!

Whoa! I know what you are thinking-you didn't realize I was a crunchy granola type.  Okay, I'm really not, but I do live in California, so by default, I'm brainwashed into thinking that I need to buy "organic" everything, only whole foods, and stop eating meat.  It's very simple, really. And, we are proud to be Part-Time Vegetarians.  We aren't full-time Vegetarians for two good reasons: 1) I love cooking and eating, 2) My husband loves bacon. I thought that my purchase was what any other mother in my Part-Time Vegetarian demographic would do--buy organic, and buy the brown rice, because we all know its better for you than white rice. 

We got the Pumpkin all ready for her first big foray into solid food.  We put her in the high chair, no problem.  We bibbed her, no problem.  I mixed up the cereal using breast milk according to package directions, no problem.  She was so ready...mouth open, she knows it's coming and even wants to help get it in her mouth....and she made a face like I just fed her motor oil.  Now, I realize that this process takes time, so I kept trying to feed it to her, and everytime she wanted to eat it (and she did eat it) her face told us that she thought it tasted like chalk.  It was like the face you make when you accidentally eat the cottage cheese that's been in the fridge for a week too long, only to realize it has green fur growing in the container. So, I did what any mother would do, I tasted it.  It tasted like brown rice. 

Maybe some babies like brown rice, but my baby was not amused.  I promptly went to the store that evening, purchased white rice cereal (non-organic, full of chemicals) and she slurped it down the next day.  No icky face, and loved every minute of it.  I'm sure my Grandmother would've thought I was ridiculous trying to feed my baby organic brown rice, since she always says that organic is just stuff grown in cow shit(although, Grandma is a bit more eloquent than that). And much to Grandma's dismay, I will continue to try and feed her the organic products we eat, so that she too can one day be a part of my beloved Part-Time Vegetarian demographic; no Coke, no Twinkies in this house.  But, today, I'm going to stock up on that non-organic white rice cereal.
BWM