It’s no secret that I love a party. My sister always teases me about the fact that I use any excuse to create one: “Oh, it’s a full moon! Let’s have a party!; Oh my lily is blooming, let’s have a party!!; Oh my roses need ladybugs, let’s have a ‘releasing of the ladybugs party.’”
I even had a bar mitzvah for my cat, Coco Bojangles. When he turned one-year-old and was graduating form kitten food to cat food, I made him a yamaka out of a Reese’s peanut butter cup wrapper and invited several friends over for a “Coco is no longer a kitten” party. Because many of my parties are impromptu, they often consist of me and, well, me. At this point in my life, however, I’m fortunate enough to have two captive guests—my two-year-old daughter and my five-month-old son. Luckily, they both love a good celebration too.
So, when it was time for my daughter to have her first food, I couldn’t very well just go to the store and buy her a box of rice cereal. I needed to mark this momentous occasion with a, you guessed it, a party. Well, not exactly a party-party, more like a celebratory rite of passage. After all, this was her first foray away from me, her first step being nourished by something other than my body.
I’m pretty good by now at throwing together a little party (although my husband might beg to differ on this, as he always ends up cooking and putting together the food). I’m still, however, perfecting the “rite of passage” parties, and when I asked my Indian friends how they marked their babies’ first food, they said they make a big deal out of it with a big party with all their relatives. I, unfortunately, do not live near my family, so first food would consist of just my own little family.
It is important to me that my children know where their food comes from, and that they get the whole experience with all five senses. With my daughter, we were on vacation to New England when it was time for her first food. We took her to an apple orchard and helped her pull an apple off a tree with her tiny hands. We walked around, smelling the fresh crisp apples and earthy trees around us, feeling the brisk autumn air, marveling at the breathtaking colors, listening to the fallen leaves crunch beneath our feet.
We came home, lit a fire, and made homemade applesauce. With the smell of baking apples wafting through the air, I set a little space with the four elements Annabelle would be taking into her body with her first food. I laid down a golden silk for Autumn, and placed a large wooden bowl filled with fresh gleaming apples. I placed a stone and a feather we’d found in the orchard to represent earth and air, a candle for fire, and for water, seashells I’d collected at our wedding. I put Annabelle in her bouncy seat and she jubilantly kicked her feet, bouncing herself up and down while I read her the following wish:
My dearest Annabelle,
Up until now, my body has solely nourished your body. Now it’s time for you to begin your journey to receiving your nourishment directly from the earth, sun, rain, and wind.
May there always be things to nourish you as the love of your family nourishes you; as blue skies, sunshine, warm rain, and wild winds, puffy clouds, and soft breezes, bees and butterflies and all the miracles that make food grow nourish you.
May the strong deep roots of the tree reflect your family and all our love.
May the tiny seeds that sleep under the snow all winter, lifting their tender heads under the growing sunlight, protected and nurtured by loving hands, reflect your own growth.
May the rain that nourishes this tree, feeding it and you, be warm and gentle.
May the wind be warm and caressing.
May the sun shine bright and warm and loving upon you.
May the stars twinkle in your branches, and the moon whisper words of wisdom, bathing you in her healing beams.
I spooned a tiny bit of applesauce into her mouth and she made a face and spit it right back out.
Well, babies do have a way of flinging us back to reality, don’t they? We finished our little celebration with a dance party. We turned on Annabelle’s favorite song, “Lollipop,” and she waved her little chubby arms and bounced herself in ecstasy. An all around successful party if I do say so myself.
