Béla's first sip of beer

Our unplanned trip to Canada unfortunately coincided with our friend Valentina's week-long visit to Jena. She just finished her PhD in my group at work, and was back to finish up some work on a paper, and to take care of some details after moving away. We arrived on Thursday, and she was leaving on Saturday, so we were able to meet up for supper with the gang from the Spanish Stammtisch. (She's Italian, but speaks Spanish as well, and hung out a lot with this group. They also speak German and English in general, so we can hang out with them too...)
And of course this meant that Béla got to have another visit with his Zia Valentina!

Hmmm... Where's that hand going???
During supper (and the drinks beforehand) Béla was doing his damndest to get a sip of beer, and we kept trying to distract him. As some of you may recall, my nephew Owen had his first sip of beer at Oktoberfest while visiting us when he was around the same age, and my sister-in-law in Canada mentioned that Béla shouldn't miss out on this important milestone for too much longer. Combining that with the fact that a German who was out with us reassured us that most babies don't like beer, so once you give them a sip they'll stop asking for it, we decided to give in.

Here he is, fielding the first offer, but distracted by the novelty of Valentina.
Back to boring old mom for a second try...
And finally, success!
While the look on his face doesn't look like pleasure, he most certainly enjoyed it. (Babies make strange faces while eating sometimes, even when they keep coming back for more, and I think it might have been the carbonation that was surprising.) Alas, Ute's theory about most babies not wanting beer after a first taste seems to have found its exception in Béla, and he's still forever trying to get into our beer glasses and bottles. Not to worry, the sip was a one time thing.