Mush = joy

I'm now the proud owner of half a dozen little bowls with lids. I'm not sure it'll be enough. They make their way from the dishwasher to the cupboard to the fridge and back to the dishwasher at a maddening rate, hosting little piles of colored-yet-brownish mush.

No, it's not another one of Matt's weird pet food systems, it's Kalina's food. We water down the mush and plop it into her mouth twice a day now. Then we mush up more things to make more mush. Mush mush mush.

And yet...

I love the mush. I love making it, and I love feeding it to her. I love planning what flavors of mush she'll have next. I love it when she seems to like it, even after questioning it with her famous furrowed brow. I love discussing the mush with others. "What kinds of mush do you feed your baby?" "The tan kind." "Me too!!!"

I'm making all the baby's solid food nowadays and am fascinated by it. Who would've thought you can use an ordinary blender, pot and stove to make food for the baby? Crazy!! Then you can freeze it in ice-cube trays and you have mush ready-made for weeks to come! Is there anything better? Yes, I'm quite the nerd.

But the fun doesn't end once the mush is made. I then get to watch as in some fantastic way, perhaps by swallowing and perhaps through absorption, Kalina makes the mush disappear. She's becoming quite the little couch potato, too, watching some entertaining show the cats put on for her while absentmindedly opening her mouth for more mush. I shovel it in like m&ms during a chick flick.

I'm not sure what Kalina's favorite is (orange-colored mush, perhaps), but mine is brown rice mush. Get this: you can grind rice in a blender! Simply add the powder to some boiling water and voila! Mush for the baby! Mix a little banana mush into the rice mush and Kalina will eat it right up.

Heck, I'll eat it right up. I licked the spoon and it's not half bad. I will admit that I briefly planned to make it for dinner. After all, wouldn't it be fun if we all three ate the same thing? We could then have green mush for dessert.

Like probably every mom in the history of the world, I feed Kalina better than I myself eat. And I will do so as long as I can keep up the charade. I will bake wholesome bran muffins for Kalina, all the while sneaking a couple double-chocolate, chocolate-chip "muffins" (read: cake) into the pan for myself. With any luck, they'll blend in. And if you see a new painting hanging conveniently in the kitchen, it's only because there's a safe behind it hiding a stash of cookies or chocolate for me. It's really the only way.

Kalina is eating two mush meals per day, and will continue to eat true mush for at least another month or so, at which time she will graduate to squishy food. Does life get any better?

Photo: A rare smile during a marathon picture-taking session at Grandpa and Grandma's house.