Finger Food

In a previous post I was quite critical of this "baby lead weaning" business for the simple reason that Joseph couldn't handle anything with a firm texture, i.e. any of the first finger food suggestions. It took him a little while to work out how to chew on his food and in the last 7 days has been doing really well, to the point where I can put quite sizable chunks in his food, as long as they are squishy. He likes chopped up strawberry, and in quite big chunks! His grasping has improved as well, he's starting to reach for small things with thumb and forefinger and has much more control over how he handles objects.
Today I tried another experiment. Toast fingers was another recommended food for self feeding, so I considered it to be worth a shot, I chopped it up into eight fingers and placed it in a plastic bowl in front of him, expecting the same reaction as I had with the bread pieces some week before. Joseph had quite liked playing with the bread, but had made no attempts to put it in his mouth. The bowl got in the way so I put the toast just on the tray in front of him and the first thing he did was pick one up and put it straight in his mouth! It came back out again and he looked jolly puzzled, but it boded well. After quite a while he managed to get it damp enough to  be squishy and he did swallow it!
It took a very, very long time. That's probably my biggest issue, along with the high level of mess. Finger feeding is great if you're at home and have plenty of time to waste, but if you're out and about or are on a tight schedule, it's just too much. Plus, Joseph doesn't like being held still while I scrape a thick layer of crumbs off him, especially as it turned out he hadn't eaten everything, there were quite a few squashed crusts he'd dropped down into the bumbo. I will be persevering with this though, and I think banana pieces are probably a good idea. Got to go, Captain Roly-Poly is going for the lounge record....