A TASTY PLAYDATE

- Mary Park, Contributing Writer

4 moms, 1 grandma [my mom], 1 nanny and 5 baby boys [Spencer, Luke, Ethan, Colin, and Levi] were in attendance. I recently held a playdate at my house for some friends and their little ones, but this was not your ordinary playdate!  My son, Spencer [11 months], never liked jarred babyfood, and I had resorted to making all his food.  Indeed, the homemade baby food was a hit, and I was relieved that he was finally eating.  But, like most busy moms, I value the convenience of ready-made babyfood.  For the last few months, Spencer had been enjoying TastyBaby, and I thought it would be fun to host a different type of playdate, a TastyBaby Tasting for the babies and lunch for the adults as well.

We had five little ones in attendence:  Spencer, Luke, Ethan, Colin, and Levi.  Coincidentally all were boys, between the ages of 4 and 11 months.  They feasted on Sweetie Pie, Bollywood Baby, Peas on Earth, Kickin' Chicken, and Mamma Mia.  It was so much fun to watch them taste and experience a different flavor/texture each time. In fact, when Colin arrived, he was still asleep in his carseat, but not a minute after he awoke, he started eating Mamma Mia [for the first time in his life], and kept opening his mouth like a baby bird for more!   Our champion eater, Luke [who eats everything], continued to impress us all.  He was the first to finish a round of all the flavors and went back for more.  Admittedly, he wasn't a fan of Kickin' Chicken and neither were any of our little taste-testers.  Still, the rest of the flavors were a hit.  For us, the adults, part of the fun was also a simultaneous relief at finding something new that we could incorporate into our little ones' meals.  Even my daughter, Emmeline (3-years-old), loves Life's-a-Peach, and eats it for a snack.

After lunch, I put several of the empty TastyBaby cartons on the floor, and let the little guys play with them.  I guess they had all eaten enough since, surpringly for their ages, no one tried to eat the boxes.  Endearingly, Spencer and Ethan [with the aid of mom's hands] decided to go for a little post-lunch stroll, as if they need to walk it off!