It seems like it's time.  I'm not a big fan of the goopy pureed baby food stage.  It's a lot of work and mess.  So we usually wait as long as we can before starting food and then teach finger food as quickly as safely possible.  But it seemed like time.  Dale's a bit small , okay 10th percentile.  But so far she'd been happy, and energetic and both Win and Harriet dropped into the 10th percentile when they were nursing too.  But the past week or so she's been a little fussy and...ahem...waking up at night again.  So yeah.  She doesn't have much cushion so we thought that it was time to start teaching her about the wonders of pureed dining.  Jared gave her her first sips of food.  She seems to like.  But classic baby style she smushed most of it back out of her mouth and smiled frequently sending pureed spoodge down her chin.  With a quick swipe of a spoon across her bottom lip Jared had another recycled bite ready for her pursed lips.  Success! Starting the kids on baby food is always a hard for me.  I get a bit emotional.  It's the first time that my baby isn't totally dependent on me.  I know, cut the cord, apron strings, etc...  But I figure at 5 months old I have the right to cry about my little baby growing up.  It just goes so fast.  I still feel like I have a brand new little one.  Sometime I see newborns in the store and think, "Oh, I have a newborn too!  oops. Dale's an infant."  I feel like she should be 3 weeks old.  But alas my little baby is growing up and eating food.  And internet world, this isn't tongue in cheek.  I'm really this pathetic.  I love every stage.  I hate to see each one pass by, like a really great parade that is going way too fast.  I want it all.  I want 6-month-old Dale and 6-day-old Dale all at once.  It's a good problem to have.