A/N: This is a gift fic for one of my very best friends signelchan because she works so hard and because of that, she deserves some special secret babyfic. c: Be sure to check out her fics and maybe leave some nice comments on them because they're amazing!
A big day in a baby's early life was the day of transitioning from just milk to baby food. That day was finally upon baby Owain (and in Lissa's opinion, it had come too soon). But she and Vaike had been ready and armed with a few jars of the mush that they thought would be best for him: bananas, sweet potatoes, and carrots; these were the most recommended first baby food flavors.
"I just can't believe how big he is…" Lissa said with a sad sigh as Vaike buckled the boy into his highchair in the kitchen.
"He'll always be our little boy, though," Vaike said. "But now he's gonna be our little boy who's gonna try his first real food."
He smiled down at his son, who smiled right back and kicked his little feet, giggling.
"It seems like just yesterday he was first born, though," Lissa said. "And now look at him: he's sitting up in his high chair about to try his first baby food."
"Aw, Lissa, don't be gettin' all mushy on me here," Vaike said, turning away from the smiling baby to look at his frowning wife.
"I'm sorry, but our son is just growing up way too fast!" Lissa said, folding her arms in front of her chest and shaking her head.
"I know," Vaike said, reaching to put a hand on her shoulder. "But it'll all be okay."
"Yeah, you're right. Okay, let's do this."
She pulled up a chair from the table and sat down directly in front of the high chair as Vaike began to work on opening one of the jars of baby food. Owain giggled again as he watched his father struggle, before the lid finally popped open.
"Okay, Owain, here we go!" Vaike said. "You are in for a treat."
Lissa picked up a spoon and Vaike handed her the jar, and she scooped a little onto the spoon. Owain watched his mother, his mouth already slightly agape.
"Are you ready?" Lissa asked, bringing the spoon closer to his mouth. "Open wide."
She opened her own mouth and Owain copied her, and once he did, Lissa put the spoonful into his mouth. He made a bit of a face as he tested the stuff, before opening his mouth again and letting all of the mouthful fall out and dribble down his chin.
"Huh. Guess he doesn't like it," Vaike said.
"He's just not used to it. Let's try again, Owain," Lissa said, getting another spoonful. She opened her mouth again and Owain copied her again. She put another spoonful into his mouth, which came right back out all over the boy's chin again.
"Maybe he doesn't like sweet potatoes. The Vaike didn't really care for 'em as a boy, either."
"Let's try bananas, then," Lissa said, placing the sweet potatoes on the tray in front of Owain for a moment while she got the bananas ready. Owain immediately reached for the jar. Lissa, realizing her mistake, quickly grabbed it right back up.
"Oops, sorry Owain, but we don't want you making a big mess," Lissa said, reaching behind her to put the jar on the counter.
"But what if we let him try to do it? Maybe he'll like it if we let him do it on his own," Vaike suggested.
"But I don't want this to turn into a big mess," Lissa said. "Let's see how this goes."
She scooped a bit of the banana mush onto the spoon and repeated the process. This time when Owain tried the mouthful, he kicked his legs, seeming to like it better than the previous flavor.
"Well look at that, I think he likes it!" Vaike said, grinning.
"I need to get a picture of this for his baby book. You keep on feeding him, okay?" Lissa asked, turning in her chair to him. He nodded and took the jar and spoon from her. Lissa got up and left the room, off to find the camera.
"Okay, buddy, ready for some more?" Vaike asked. Owain reached for the spoon, and Vaike scooped a little onto it.
But no matter how much he tried, he could not get the baby to eat the food as his mother had. He'd tried the opening his mouth to make Owain do it too trick, but all he got from that was a laugh; he made the spoon into an 'airplane' and tried to fly it into the kid's mouth, only to get more laughter from this act. In a desperate attempt, he even tasted a bit himself, grimacing a bit at the lack of flavor.
Close to giving up, he suddenly heard a beautiful sound: the musical jingle of Lissa's cell phone, all the way from the kitchen. He now knew it would be a while before Lissa came back, even if she had already found the camera; when her phone rang with this special tune, it was her best friend, and the pair of them could talk for hours if given the chance. She would probably use the time telling Maribelle what they were up to today with Owain, giving him his taste of baby food. Vaike could use this time to his advantage…
Figuring he would have more than enough time to clean up if things got really bad before she came back, he placed the jar down on the tray in front of the boy, intent on letting him feed himself in the hopes he'd eat it that way.
Lissa gasped when she came back into the kitchen close to half an hour later. "Vaike, you had one job! Just look at this mess!"
Owain grinned and clapped his messy hands together when he saw his mother again. Despite looking as though he'd bathed in his food rather than eaten any, Owain looked as happy as he'd ever been in his short life. The baby food had gotten absolutely everywhere; in Owain's hair, all over his face, down the front of his shirt, and spread across the tray of his high chair.
"What even happened?"
"I tell you, Lissa, he wouldn't eat for me, no matter how hard I tried or what I did! So I thought lettin' him do it himself would work out better. Unfortunately, he kinda played with it more than he ate it. But he looked like he was really havin' fun and I didn't wanna ruin it," Vaike explained.
"Now he's absolutely covered in bananas, and-"
Her frown turned into a smile when she got a really good look at her son, who was a grinning mess. He kicked his little legs and reached his banana-covered hands towards her.
"Oh, how could I be mad at that face?" Lissa said. "It's going to make the best first baby-food experience picture, ever!"
And it was. In fact, Lissa loved the picture so much that it was printed and framed and given the proud honor of a place on the mantle.
