Self-feeding - when did he grow up?

We've been working with Henry over the past week or so to transition to more finger-foods. It's hit and miss so far. He has always been such a good eater - as evidenced by his robust size - but we're finding with this new challenge, he's resisting foods for the first time.

I started him first on these little puffs made by Gerber designed for baby's first finger-foods. They come in a variety of flavors, but so far he seems to shun all but the banana flavor. We actually started these a few weeks ago, but it was the litmus test for me because I was so worried about the possibility of him choking. These puffs are tiny and melt almost immediately as they go in his mouth, so they were the training wheels we both needed to convince me he was ready to try something more adventurous.


This last week, I've introduced diced pieces of some of his favorite foods, as well as a new food or two. The game is on: Henry vs. Mama and the Big-Boy Foods. After several innings, we're not a lot closer to him being a designated eater, but it's okay because I'm not 100% sure I'm ready for such grown-upness anyway.

Let's look at the loss column:
*He just said no to diced cooked carrots, diced green beans, diced peaches, and diced pears.
*He actually gagged (and threw up) on small curd cottage cheese.
*He seems to have regressed a little on his puffs, with less than 50% accuracy in his aim to get them in his mouth.

And, a look at the win column:
*If I mash up the peaches a little, he might not spit them all out and manages to swallow a tad bit.
*If I mix his cottage cheese in with his sweet potatoes or peas, I can trick him into eating some of it.
*If I leave the green beans on his tray long enough, he'll eventually start playing with them and inadvertently a sliver or two end up in his mouth. And sometimes, he doesn't spit it back out.
*He loves baby yogurt, one of the new foods we've tried this week.
*If I take advantage of his hunger by withholding his bottle until I've first offered the foreign foods, he's a little more likely to sample. And sometimes, he doesn't spit it back out.

That's a final score of 5 to 3, so we'll say we're winning, but it's gonna be a long season. And, on a side note, since starting to offer solids before the bottle, I've experimented with seeing how well he could drink his bottle without my help. He's already in the high chair, so I just tilt it back so that gravity is working with him instead of against him, and he just goes to town. All by himself. Without my help. Doesn't need me anymore. *tear* I don't remember him asking me if he could be all grown up yet, because I'm sure I would have asked for a little more time.