May 8, 2000 - Monday
After a very successful first week of eating Rice cereal, Harry regressed last week in objection to the sweet potatoes to the point that over this past weekend he seemed to want nothing to do with even the Rice. But, today, he was back on track. Actually, our initial efforts feeding him the Rice cereal this evening met with a similar resistance and only through a certain amount of trickery by his mother did Harry eat it.

However, peaches got Harry's attention again. I had thought pears might be milder, but Harry's mother had the peaches and they worked like a charm with Harry becoming the aggressive eater once more. The thing about fruit is that it has natural sugar - fructose - and babies (even very old babies) like that. Our doctor had suggested fruit as Harry's second course, but we opted for the vegetable on the grounds of getting him used to things without so much sugar first. But, we've happily succumbed now that peaches have him happy with food again, even gladly eating the Rice afterward. We'll have to wait and see if the sugary food affects dietary introductions of the future.

One other dietary note: Harry processed, and his diaper revealed, the first of what will probably be many surprises in years to come: a blade of grass.

Generally, I've notice that Harry has been a particularly wonderful baby again lately, especially over the weekend and today. Unlike some times during March and April, he's been the good-natured and happy boy that we know and love. After all the activities of the weekend, getting him out and about, I really expected him to be easily bored and looking for trouble this morning, but he was not. He's laughing more now and is becoming ticklish, affording us all great fun.

On the other hand, I can't help but think that it's really been my mood changing over the last few days. It's hard to make this argument for March, but there have been some tired times lately when I've been spending more mental energy on work that suspiciously coincide with Harry's mood swings. It continues to strike me as a real possibility that Harry's apparent demeanor is really highly related to my own. What's more, his mother reports that she didn't find Harry so particularly wonderful yesterday afternoon. Harry can't make his own case yet, so I'm not sure who to believe.


Comments, opinions?