Milestone or Disaster?

Nora has learned how to undo Velcro. She has an Old McDonald book that goes on your hand with puppets for fingers and the book, which Velcros shut, in the palm of your hand. She is endlessly entertained by opening the book each time you close it, and its positively adorable.

The problem does not lie in the opening and closing of the book; no, the problem lies in the fact that she has also made the connection between opening her book and unfastening her Bum Genius diapers, which also use Velcro closure. Oy, the perils of having a smart kid.



We can now check "learning the art of fastening diaper while putting pants on simultaneously" off the to-do list.

On the babyfood menu this week is chicken. Yesterday, I boiled two medium chicken breasts on the stove until they were cooked through, and pureed them using water to help thin the mixture. Charlie was a little disturbed by the mushy meat, but I can assure you this looked (and smelled!) much better than any jarred meat I've seen served to a baby.



Since Nora isn't quite ready for a variety of spices just yet, I mixed the pureed chicken with a cube of apples I had made previously to give it some flavor. She seemed to approve.

Life As Usual

Many apologies for my few and far between posts lately. Work has been a nightmare, plus I took on a job designing a website for a local party bus company to earn some extra moola so my free time has been nonexistant.

Not too much has happened here.


Bear is regularly sitting on her own now, though she does still topple from time to time.


She love to drink water. She can drink from sippys that pour and regular cups, but she hasn't really grasped the sippys that don't spill yet.

Today we're cleaning (well right now she's napping) in case Mimi and Eric come up tomorrow and doing laundry.

We tried two new foods today, but I didn't get any photos. Both were, as usual, super easy to make. The pears I just cut out the core and mashed them. I didn't even take the skin off. I did have to add quite a bit of oatmeal baby cereal to the pears because they are naturally watery and if Nora's food is too runny she blows raspberries and food goes everywhere. Two pears made 12 single ounce servings.

For the applesauce, I peeled and cored three apples, then cut them into tiny chunks and simmered in 2 cups of water until they were mushy. I drained the excess water and added a teaspoon of cinnamon. Three apples made 18 single ounce servings.

She loved them both. Since neither of the fruits have a strong flavor, we will likely use them to mix with other stronger flavored foods like meats when we introduce them.

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Give a Girl a Fish...

And you give her an allergic reaction. Nora tried salmon this week, and while she loved it, it didn't agree with her too well.


Previously, it was recommended fish not be introduced to baby's diet until after a year, and according to some sources, after 3 years because it can be allergenic. Recent studies have shown low-mercury fish to OK to introduce to babies as young as 6 months, and actually encourage early introduction because of the Omega-3's not present in other early foods. Due to all this new information I thought it would be a good first meat for her.


I chose canned salmon and it was very easy to prepare. Since I don't eat fish, cooking it correctly seemed intimidating to me.


With the canned, all I did was add some water and puree it in the food processor.


First bite


Tasting


It's good!

She enjoyed it so much, she decided she needed to work on her self feeding, which became very messy.


When she was done, we headed straight up to the bath. I took her onesie off and discovered a red rash on her tummy, side and some sploches on her back.

I thought it might be the fish, but wasn't positive that the rash wasn't there before she ate -- after all we had been outside in the grass and on the back deck earlier, so anything could have irritated her skin.

The rash was gone completely by morning, so we tried the salmon again for dinner. Sure enough, 5 to 10 minutes after eating, her legs were covered in red dots.


I don't know much about allergies (though I'm going to read up now!) but I hope this is not a long-term thing -- hopefully, her digestive system just needs a little longer to tackle fish and in a few months she'll be able to enjoy it sans rash.

Asante Sana Squash Banana Wewe Nugu Mimi Apana

Ok it's really just spaghetti squash, but quoting Rafiki from the Lion King sounded more fun.

Nora seemed to enjoy spaghetti squash, but while easy, it did take a long time to make since it has to cook for an hour. It was my first time trying it too, and though I didn't hate it, for the cost ($2.33/lb!) it wasn't amazing and I don't think this will become a regular staple on the dinner menu.

But in case any loyal readers are dying to make this for their little one, here's our recipe.

Spaghetti Squash

Preheat oven to 400. Cut squash in half lengthwise and place seed-side down in a glass baking dish in about 1/4 inch of water. Bake 1 hour.

Let squash cool 10 to 15 minutes, then scoop and discard seeds. Scoop the remaining fleshy part of the squash out with a spoon. Depending on baby's age, you can chop into small bite sized pieces or puree.

If you reserve some for the adults to enjoy, add a couple tablespoons of butter and salt to taste. Since it doesn't have a lot of flavor, its a good "hidden veggie". Add it to soup or a casserole for additional fiber and calcium.

Tofu, anyone?

I've read lots of great things about introducing tofu as an early food to babies because it's an excellent source of iron, protein, and calcium, so I thought we'd give it a go even though I've never even had it myself. I'd never had an avocado before either, so I guess babies introduce all kinds of firsts, eh?

There are 3 kinds of tofu, but not having known this before I went to the store I went with "soft" because it seemed logical that Nora would need soft tofu. It was definitely soft, mushier than a banana even, but made a good finger food for her. I just cut it into small chunks and put a few on her tray at a time. She really seemed to enjoy it.


Check out this website for some really great tips on buying, storing, and serving tofu. I think I'm going to have to try a few of the "for adults and babies alike" because tofu doesn't come in small packages and I have no idea what to do with it all. I may try pureeing some with squash (our next food!) or fruit and freezing it for later. Tomorrow will be her first day with finger food at daycare...better pack some extra clothes!

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April Showers and May Flowers

After a week of beautiful weather, Nora and I sit here cooped up in the house because it's rainy and yucky outside today.

She's napping on me now (yes, on me -- spoiled girl!), but we've got a special project to work on when she wakes. You'll just have to wait to see what it is!

She's getting so big! I think she's getting ready to start crawling because she gets up on all fours now and rocks back and fourth. Then she gets angry and screams.

Yesterday, I packed up the last of her 3-month sized sleepers. I think she's still got a couple of pairs of 3-6 pants because she's short, but those excluded she's officially in 6-9 month clothes.


This weeks she brought home an art project from day care. She painted the world for Earth Day!
Oh and she officially hates being spoon fed. She's eating "meals" at night time now, but insists on feeding herself. Here she is enjoying a potato and avocado dinner the other day.




I've been slacking on keeping up with all her new foods. Since she is loving anything she can pick up with her fingers, last weekend she had macaroni noodles with olive oil and parmesan cheese.


I cooked the noodles just a little longer than the package recommended, then let them cool completely, and cut them up into bite sized pieces. She loved it, but we think we may have discovered a food allergy. We're going to wait a bit and try again to see if she has a similar reaction.


On Monday, we introduced mango. It is another super easy baby recipe. You just take 1 ripe mango, cut the "fleshy" part from the pit, and slice it from the skin. You can either serve it in chunks or puree it -- No cooking required!
It must have had a bitter-sweet flavor because every bite invoked a reaction like this:



In the end she decided she didn't really care for mango, but we've since tried it with cereal mixed in and I think it tones down the flavor because she tolerates it much better that way.

Well, I think I'm all caught up now! Off to work on the scrapbook, I'm way behind there as well. Have a good weekend all!

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Finger Foods

Now that she's got the hang of it (well kind of), Nora definitely thinks finger foods are more fun than being spoon fed.

She's loving the mum-mums and becoming a pro with puffs.


This morning she had bananas with oatmeal sprinkled on them to make them easier to pick up.


Here's what it looked like when she was done.

Her aim isn't perfect yet, but the mess is half the fun right? We went straight to the tub after breakfast!

For those of you following our homemade recipes, she also had green beans last week and I just haven't had time to post. We made them the same way we made peas, and again she loved them. Hopefully her non-pickyness sticks. I love that she'll eat just about anything.


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Baby of the Month

Nora's famous. I sent in her photo to a worldwide homemade baby food website and she got an honorable mention! You can see her here. How cool?!?

Speaking of homemade baby food, we tried avacado yesterday. It was my first time trying it too, and I think Nora liked it more than I did.


We've been inching into finger foods, but she doesn't really get the concept yet. Ironically, any- and everything she can get her hands on goes into her mouth...except food I give her to put in her mouth. She just opens wide and waits for me to put it in there for her.

I thought avacado would be a good one to dice instead of puree because it is so soft it just mushes. She did well with it (though daddy was paranoid and came to cut up the chunks smaller). In addition to the chunks of avacado, we have also tried Gerber puffs. I got some banana flavored ones and again, she doesn't pick them up, and she's pretty indifferent to eating them -- doesn't really seem to enjoy nor dislike them.
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You Know the Food is Good When...

The kid doesn't even get the bib dirty! Sweet potatoes were such a success, I decided to give regular potatoes a try yesterday. Bonus - they were so easy I made them entirely with one hand!

This was taken after she gobbled down a bowl of them...not a spot on the bib!


Potatoes
4 cups shredded potatoes
1/4 cup water, more if necessary

I happened to have some hashbrowns in the freezer, so that's what I used. I cooked them according to the package's fat free directions by putting 4 cups of potatoes and 1/4 cup water in the microwave for 7 minutes. When they are done, put them in the magic bullet (or food processor) and puree. These potatoes were particularly sticky, so I ended up adding about 2 ounces of milk and another 2 or 3 ounces of water until they were thinner.

The 4 cups made almost enough to fill an ice cube tray after the portion Nora ate was removed.
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Little Jack Horner Sat in a Corner

Eating his Christmas pie
He put in a thumb and pulled out a plum
And said, "What a good boy am I?"


I'm not sure what exactly a Christmas pie is, but I can tell you that Nora was not quite as excited about plums as Jack.

She didn't really seem to like nor dislike them. They didn't cause a gag reflex like carrots, but she didn't smile and inhale them like she does with foods she likes either. She only had a couple bites and then she was done. We'll try them again tomorrow.

Plums are another food that were super easy to make. The most time consuming part was getting the skins off, but that was mostly because they were just too hot to touch. The skin comes off easier after they're stewed, but maybe next time I'll try skinning and pitting them first.

Plums
Bring 1 inch of water to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Cut an X in the side of 3-4 washed ripe plums. Place the plums in the water, cover, and boil for 4-5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Skin and pit the plums, reserving the excess water. Puree plums in food processor and add water to thin.


Make sure the plums aren't too hot before serving, but by the time I finally got the skins off, that wasn't really an issue. I used 3 plums and it filled about 2/3 of an ice cube tray plus what I reserved for Nora to eat right away. I think 4 plums would be perfect to fill the tray.

Food aside, Charlie was getting Nora pumped up for opening day while I was at work -- Have a look.


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Eat and Be Merry

Sweet potatoes were another success despite the fact that it looks like we just rubbed them all over her face and shirt.

They were a little more time consuming than peas, but still pretty simple and one sweet potato made enough to fill an ice cube tray and a half, plus what she ate.

Sweet Potatoes
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash sweet potato, poke with a fork several times, and wrap in aluminum foil (skin still on), and place on baking sheet. Bake 30-60 minutes until soft. This is where I messed up - I had a really big potato so it didn't get soft all the way through. I should have cooked it longer. Scoop potato out of skin and place in food processor -- alternatively, you can just mash with a potato masher -- and puree. Serve.

If it is too thick, you can add milk or water until you reach the desired consistency. You can also peel, cube and boil sweet potatoes, but they don't hold as many nutrients that way. It is quicker, but I just popped them in the oven while preparing dinner, so it was really no hassle.

Here's what Nora thought:
Tasting

It's good!


Nora has also started to learn how to use a sippy. I thought we would go straight for the big kid cup first, then learn to use a cup with a lid, but that resulted in a very angry baby when I wouldn't let her tip it all the way upside down. This sippy pours, instead of having to be sucked, so hopefully, it is a good alternative. She seems to really enjoy drinking water even though most of it just dribbles down the front of her shirt!

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More Peas Please

She doesn't look so sure about the grass-green substance about to be put in her mouth, but she quickly changes her opinion once she gets a taste!

Peas are definitely better when smeared all over your face and hands.

Peas were really easy to make - they took 5 minutes tops. I bought frozen because she shouldn't have any salt and all the canned peas have salt, plus I wasn't up for shelling fresh peas. I put a half a pound in 1/4 cup boiling water. Covered and let simmer on medium heat for 3 minutes.

Then put the steamed peas and 1 1/2 ounces of milk in the magic bullet (or blender or food processor) and puree.

The leftovers I put in an ice cube tray to freeze and we will thaw them one or two at a time for her eat. If I had known she'd love them so much, I would have cooked the whole bag.


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Carrots Were a Bust

In fact, she hated them so much that she actually had a gag reflex. Since I am making her baby food fresh, we can freeze them in ice cube trays and try again later.

Carrots were my first attempt at homemade baby food. They were super easy. I just took about 7 baby carrots, put 1/4 to 1/2 an inch of water in a pan, covered it, and steamed them for 10-12 minutes.

When I could easily pierce them with a fork, I put them in the magic bullet (you could use a blender or food processor), added an ounce of breast milk, and mixed until smooth.

Here she is enjoying a yummy bowl of oatmeal. Don't mind the drips on her head!

Today I...had a good day. I had fun playing in the exersaucer and watching bubbles. I also colored a big flower.

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