19 Weeks: Eating!

This was a really exciting week because Silvan started eating solid foods for the first time. I had been noticing him watching very closely while we eat, and he had been nursing constantly the past couple weeks-- even during the night, which has not been his habit. My folks, along with a couple mama buddies of mine, convinced us that the time is right to try solid foods for Silvan.

We started out with some teething biscuits (the hippie organic kind, of course). I offered one to Silvan and he immediately grabbed it and put it in his mouth, as if he had been waiting for me to offer him a biscuit for weeks! When he found that he could eat it, he began kicking his arms and legs and squealing with delight.
We sat him in his high chair and gave him rice cereal a few days later. Another easy success! Silvan had no trouble eating from a spoon, and soon insisted on holding the spoon himself (he's not great at aiming for his mouth, however). He can eat a serving of rice cereal in no time flat.

The goat shed is now finished. It will be a nice warm winter home for goats, chickens, sheep dogs, and cats. It smells pleasantly of cedar and hay inside, and we are very happy with it. Now comes the difficult work of herding the chickens into it. Silvan and I work on herding chickens each afternoon; he rides in the backpack. We like to hang out together this way.