Carrots aren't as soft as they used to be

Buoyed by yesterday’s success with the watermelon, and seeing that even watermelon turns her clothes orange, I decide there is nothing to lose by trying Mae on some well-steamed carrot. It’s sweet, it’s healthy and even though we like our carrots crunchy nowadays, I remember cooked carrots in the eighties at my Nanna’s dinner table – so soft I could easy hide them in my mashed potato in order to earn myself dessert.

So I cut an average carrot into four strips about 10 cm x 2 cm and steam for what seems like forever and allow to cool. I take a bite, they seem fairly soft and so I give one to Mae who is seated and awaiting day 2 of her culinary adventures. Once again, she puts it in her mouth and sucks. But it’s not as juicy as the watermelon and she seems to work out a different technique is required to get something out of this toy and starts to gum (she has no teeth yet).

Then I realise the bit in her hand is smaller than when it went in, meaning there must be some in her mouth! My delight quickly ends when I realise she doesn’t know how to chew. Her head goes back, her eyes start to water, OMG is she choking?! I lunge forward in order to try and sweep it from her mouth, before I realise she is gagging not choking and the bit comes straight out the front. She is totally unphased but I am sweating. I decide lunchtime is over before it’s really begun and I haven’t even had chance to take a pic!

Learnings:

• Carrots must have been genetically modified over the last 20 years to make them more crunchy – even my Nanna didn’t steam her carrots for 30 mins!
• I resolve that until Mae learns about chewing, I will give her foods that can be gummed until soft and do not break off into scary chunks
• It doesn’t matter that lunch was so short – this is all about learning for both of us
• Mae has a gag reflex that is second to none
• Gagging does not bother her in the slightest