"Sherlock, I rang but you didn't answer- oh."

Sherlock glanced up as John and Mary walked into the flat, dismissing their entrance as non-unusual, and looked back at Spring. "I am currently having a fight with my daughter on whether or not she will eat this food," he said bluntly. "I am confident in my ability to sway her for the experiment."

"Don't experiment on your child," John said, with an unseen eye roll. "Did you try her on something else?"

"She ate some of the applesauce type yesterday and I'm trying to get her to eat this..." Sherlock picked up the miniature jar and peered at the label. "Liquefied peas and carrots."

"She just might not like that kind. Have you given her any milk?"

"Yes, but I'm trying to get her off of it," Sherlock muttered.

"Baby steps," John reminded.

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Yes, let's pun on the child in the room. Come on, Spring," he muttered, pushing the toddler spoon towards her mouth.

Spring did not relent, did not open her mouth, and only responded by turning away and letting out a wail.

Sherlock sighed heavily and jabbed the spoon back into the jar of baby food. "How long does this take?"

John laughed quietly as Mary picked up Spring. "Just wait until you have to start potty-training her, Sherlock."

Sherlock resisted the urge to sigh and idly stirred the baby food. "That's not until, what... two to three years?"

"Every child is different, but that's a good guideline, I'd say."

Sherlock spooned up a spoonful of the baby food and wrinkled his nose. "Is this really peas and carrots? It looks like... well, it does look like blended peas and carrots, but..."

"Baby food doesn't look very appetising, does it?" John muttered, picking up a nearby jar. "Is this the applesauce she ate?"

"Yeah. I'm going to have to get some more. At least she eats that." Sherlock looked back at Spring, who at least wasn't crying now- she had taken to Mary well enough- but probably still as fussy as ever.

"Do you want me to try?" John asked, raising his eyebrows.

Sherlock shrugged. "If you'd like. Although I don't see why she would eat for you when she doesn't take it when offered from me."

John smiled. "Because I'm Uncle John and I know better," he said, taking the jar and spoon from Sherlock.

Sherlock rolled his eyes and settled back in his chair to watch.

John had the same approach- putting the spoon in front of Spring's mouth- but he added a horrific type of baby talk that made the hair on the back of Sherlock's neck stand on end.

"Come on, Springaling. Open up for the choo-choo train!" John cooed. "Chugga-chug-"

"It's a spoon, not a train," Sherlock interrupted. "Do you have to speak like she's an imbecile?"

John shot him a dirty look. "She's a child."

"She's not an idiotic child."

John rolled his eyes and turned back to Spring. "Come on, sweetie. Watch Uncle John, like this." He made a 'vroom' type of noise and guided the spoon to his own mouth.

Sherlock took great delight in the face that John made afterwards.

"That's..." John swallowed. "Wow. That's actually really disgusting," he said. "It's no wonder that she doesn't want to eat it."

Sherlock stood up. "It can't be that bad." He took the spoon from John, scooped up some of the liquefied food, and put the spoon into his mouth.

He instantly regretted it and strode to the sink to spit before he could throw up. "Oh, gross," he spat, grabbing his mug to fill with water and gulping it down. "Never again." He grabbed the jar from John's hand and threw it into the trash, jar and all.

Mary, who was laughing at their exchange, seated Spring back in her high chair. "Shall I heat up some milk, then?"

"Yes," John and Sherlock said together.

Sherlock sniffed and poured himself some tea. "I'm definitely going to focus on a lot of applesauce. And definitely taste it before I try to feed it to her..." he trailed off.

That idea didn't sound too appealing, to be honest.

"Good luck," John said, clapping him on the back as he went to help Mary sort through the fridge.

Sherlock sighed and glumly joined John and Mary.


I read that kids start baby food around six months, but, like mentioned, I think every child is case-subjective (so six and a half months here) so forgive any timeline errors.

Still don't own Sherlock. Still love your thoughts. :) Thank you!