The Feeding Mystery Solved!

So the feeding mystery has been solved. The secret? There isn't one.

Basically, I was totally stressed about Ian "being behind" because he wasn't diligently eating his finger foods like "all 14 month olds should." We simply started feeding him what we eat and presto change-o! Happy boy.

His favorite foods so far are the black beans, grilled chicken and veggie rice from Gloria's. He could eat that all day long. The biggest thing we've learned recently is that if he has his own plate, he will ignore it. He wants whatever we eat. So now we salt our food a bit less and use very little spice, and are able to share with the little dude all he pleases.

Amber's Sweet Potato Fries

Amber has been a lifesaver today, sharing her knowledge with me on the foods Colm likes. Colm is 6 months older than Ian, and as I tell Amber: "Girl, I'm so lucky you got knocked up before I did." She's a wealth of knowledge! Here's an email I got from her today (among many other amazing suggestions) for Sweet Potato Fries that are baked!

1) Slice a sweet potato into little fries
2) Coat with canola oil, salt and pepper
3)Throw in the oven at 400 for about 12-15 minutes (or when they start to brown).
4) Turn them over in the middle, so they'll cook on both sides.

Super healthy and kids LOVE them!

She also suggests baking chicken strips (coat chicken in egg, dip in breadcrumbs or crushed up corn flakes and bake), or bean/cheese quesadillas. And she adds, "Be prepared for mess, but it's also fun to see when they really like something. Colm will say OOOOOOOH...yummy! So cute! :)"

THANK YOU AMBER GIRL!!!!!

Recipe: Peas & Carrots

Ian has become one picky eater. One day he'll love bananas, the next day he refuses them. He uses his arm to wipe my hand away, a lot like how we used to deflect attacks in kung fu - only not as painful!

He seemed to be refusing all the yummy home cooked veggies I was making, so I decided to do it Julia-style: add butter! I mixed in a little pinto beans for some protein, and cereal for some heft, and guess what? He loved it! The recipe (like all home made baby food) is so simple, there's no reason to pop open a jar every meal:

INGREDIENTS
2 large carrots
2 cups peas
> OR 1 package frozen peas & carrots
1 tbsp pureed pinto beans*
1 tsp Brummel & Brown yogurt butter
1 tbsp Earth's Best baby cereal



WHAT TO DO
Cut and peel the carrots. Steam the veggies together until tender. Chop in a handheld chopper until chunky, not pureed. Mix in pinto beans, butter and cereal. Microwave for 10 seconds if butter doesn't melt. Done!

Mimi and Ian eating dinner in the sunroom

* I have jars of this in the freezer. You can make one bag on a Sunday afternoon, store in clean baby jars or ice cube trays, and you'll have enough beans for a month or more!

Self Feeding (Oliver Celebrates)

This week Ian has begun feeding himself successfully. And by "successfully" I mean picking up a piece of puff cereal and putting it into his mouth. Before that, he would pick it up, close his fist, then attempt to put the cereal into his mouth with his closed-up fist hiding the food. Duh!

He has now taken it a step further by dropping puffs on the floor and delighting in watching Oliver scramble to eat it up. I've even caught Ian feeding Oliver from his hand. So cute and such a waste of good baby food!

Homemade peas, please!

Today I rushed home with Ian and got right down to the business of making peas. It was just about as easy as popping open a jar of Gerber. Here's how I did it:


1. Buy fresh or frozen peas.


2. Steam the little suckers for about 10 minutes on a low boil.


3. Puree with a cup or so of distilled water. You can also use the pea water from the pan; it's loaded with vitamins!


4. Work the puree through a sieve, if you please. This is optional and honestly not worth the time.


5. Feed fresh to baby.


6. Then freeze the rest. This bag made enough for two trays full - that's about 18 jars of the factory stuff. And it took less than 20 minutes. Easy peasy!

Evolution of the Avocado Baby

Okay, let's try this out.

Huh. I don't think so.

Again?

Nooooo.

Ewwww, please!

Fine, I'll try it one more time.

Whoo hoo! I love avocado.

Avocado Baby

I got this email from my mom this morning about feeding Ian avocado for the first time:

"I had two plates ready, one with his cereal and the other with the mashed aguacate. I started with the cereal, and he was eating it like there is no tomorrow, when... pow, I switched to the aguacate. At the beginning he was not too sure what had happened, then he started making the funniest faces in the world, several times like he was going to throw up in a minute. But, in general, I think he liked it."


He did the same thing with the sweet potatoes a couple weeks ago. It was like we were feeding him poo. But he never really rejected it. He slurped it up and made head motions like a baby bird straining to reach the worm mama was feeding him. Too funny!

Another new development: He's starting to leeeeeeean forward in his swing. It's like he's doing a slow motion head dive onto the floor below. Yesterday, before realizing this was his new "thing," I left him in his swing sans buckle and he slipped right out and toppled to the floor. Luckily, the drop was about 2 inches onto a carpeted rug, so no biggie. But it scared me for a second. Bad mom! Bad mom!

Sweet Potatoes

This afternoon I made Ian some sweet potatoes. Yum! (Well, not really. I don't like them myself, but I don't want to put my dislikes onto Ian.)

These veggies are loaded with fiber, vitamins A and C, and potassium. I baked and mashed them following the instructions on http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/, and then thinned them with distilled water. After that, I put the mush in the blender and pureed the batch.

Then I saved a little in a tupperware for the next few days and put the rest into cube trays for freezing.

We're going to give Ian some of these sweet potatoes tonight in his oatmeal cereal. Delish!

First Meal

Last night, Jason, my mom and I fed Ian his first solid meal. Being only three months old, I had my reservations. The American Pediatrics people recommend starting no earlier than four months, but Dr. Curry said that as healthy and fast-growing as Ian is he can start at three months. It was soooo cute. He got messy but loved it. He pushed out about half of the food and ate quite a bit for his first time.

Tonight J and I fed him for the second time and he went after the food with such enthusiasm. He loves his rice cereal! Earth's Best organic mixed with my breast milk, naturally...