She's Feeding Herself!

We decided one day during dinner that we were just going to let her try to feed herself with a fork. She's been eating for a while just with her fingers, so the fork was new for her. She took to it very quickly!!

Since then (this was right after her birthday), she pretty much feeds herself. It is lovely!!! I enjoy being able to have dinner together as a family without having to feed one bite to her and one bit to me. She's getting more picky about what she eats, too. Lately, she's been eating cheese only for the past couple of days. I've been trying my hardest to get her to eat anything else, but she only wants cheese! I'm afraid that her bowels might eventually take the fall as I can't imagine that a cheese only diet is the best thing for your digestive system. If you put anything else in front of her, she actually shakes her head no. I thought all this stuff started at two. She's only one :((

Just for fun, these are her favorite foods at this point:

- Cheese (American cheese being the most favored)
- Strawberries
- Yogurt covered baby puffs
- Green beans
- Peas
- Whole wheat bread (definitely does not like the white bread at all)
- Sausage (but only links)
- Meatloaf
- Animal Crackers
- Cheerios
- Oatmeal mixed with cinnamon apple sauce (she refuses to eat anything else for breakfast)
- Milk (like one cup at every meal)
- Avocado
- Broccoli
- Pasta with anything on it
- Pretty much whatever we're eating for dinner including spicy chili and soups

Her not so favorite foods:

- Pears
- Peaches
- Hmm... nothing else I can think of off the top of my head

Gwen is most definitely a good eater (except for these past couple of days). I hope we can still push her to try new things as she gets older because it seems to me that it gets more difficult as they get bigger....

Gwen's First Birthday Party (Part 2)

Gwennie had another first birthday party at our house for Dave's side of the family! It was also Dave's birthday, too, so he got his own cake. I made cupcakes and then shaped them into Mario. It was so much fun to have everyone together. Gwen got a little more into the cake than at my parent's house. I still can't believe she's already one...

Getting Caught Up

I could just do a little blogging every day to keep up with Gwen, but that would be so much less fun than just doing it all at once... right....

I thought I would start out posting pictures of Gwen playing with James. I think I told Leah that I would post these forever ago, and I'm just now getting to them. Gwen goes back and forth with liking her other baby friends. Some days, she just wants to clobber them and take all of their toys. Other days, like this day when James was over, she just wanted to play nicely. It was very cute to watch her be so kind to James. It's always a good day when friends come over (for mommy and Gwen!!!)