Thursday, September 27, 2012

Random...

I'm up way past my bedtime researching flour. It's like I'm back in culinary school.

Just thought y'all should know.


Elle

Monday, September 10, 2012

Ch-ch-ch-changes

According to my posting history, I've not entered anything into this here blog since January. That's about 9 months of silence. Well, silence in the sense that I've not said anything in written form other than on Facebook and in email. Definitely not silence in this household. Seriously. My kid found his voice at 4 months old and he knows how to use it. It went from cute baby cooing to this new high-pitched squealing thing that is only adorable if you cover your ears and focus on how cute his face is. But in all reality, the squeal stops being cute in about 5 seconds and duct tape becomes and appealing option. Anyway, moving on...

The past 9 months have been interesting and full of changes. I've been a full time stay at home mommy, Charlie went from a crappy job at Lowes to a pretty rad job with as a security officer, Calvin has turned into a bottomless pit, I started a weight loss "journey"**, and I'm about to go back to work part time this week leaving Charlie home with the baby. That's a very poor summary because SO much has happened, but I don't have the time to write all of that down. That's what all of those pictures I've taken are for.

I'm not totally sure where I'm going with this so please bear with me. I want to keep it semi food related, but I'm going to blame any randomness on "Mommy brain". Seems legit, right? Right.

As far as Calvin goes, we've gone from strictly breast feeding, to formula feeding (that broke my heart), to rice cereal and liquidy purees, to chunky purees and Gerber puffs, to "big people food" cut into baby safe pieces. It took my little man about a week to get the hang of eating solids. We started him on rice cereal and stuck with that for almost a month. I'd mix in some banana or applesauce for a little variety, but he seemed satisfied with that and stuck to his bottles for the most part. But as soon as is 2 little front teeth came in all the way, we were off to the races. He loved my mom's applesauce, he liked peach-mango puree, I steamed and pureed all manner of veggies and fruits (broccoli and cauliflower, sweet potatoes, winter squash, Asian pears, apples, green beans, edamame, peas, peaches, cherries), and he LOVED ricotta cheese and yogurt. Most of it was experimental. He'd eat a few ounces here and there, but again stuck mostly with his bottle. Then it got to the point where when mommy and daddy sat down with a meal or a snack, he had to have it. This was another thing that was cute for about 5 seconds. Then we realized he was ready for the big leagues.  Now his typical meal plan for the day is something like this (keep in mind that he gets 4-7oz bottles a day in between all of this):

Breakfast- a banana and a 4 oz cup of YoBaby organic yogurt OR a few ounces of Cheerios with 1% milk
Lunch- Unsweetened applesauce and bites of whatever I'm having (example: If it's a sandwich, I get some extra lunch meat and cut it up for him.)
Dinner- Little bits of whatever I come up with that night. This kid will eat anything***. One of his favorite things is a sauteed chicken tender, alphabet pasta with a splash of olive oil, basil and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, a steamed veggie of some kind (spinach, broccoli, peas, corn, squash) and maybe some applesauce or cheese cubes if he's really hungry.

There's an old saying I learned not too long ago that "Before one, it's just fun" meaning before babies turn a year old, the solid foods are fun but most of their nutrition is going to come from breast milk or formula. That's all well and good, but formula does not keep my 10 month old satisfied for more than 2 hours. It's pretty amazing how quickly he went from hating textures and only wanting purees and mush to craving just about anything he can put in his mouth. Feeding an almost-toddler isn't as scary as I initially thought, but I still have some things to learn. Like, just because he has a total of 8 teeth now, doesn't mean he will use them. I've always got to keep this in mind when cutting his food. And the little stinker will let me know when it's too big or he doesn't want to chew it by spitting it out. I suppose that's better than him choking, though. Okay, yeah. The spitting it out thing isn't so bad after all.

Calvin's first experience with pureed broccoli was hilarious, as you can see!

I guess what I'm trying to say while taking you through this scenic route in my brain, is that I'm already proud of my non-picky eater. I REALLY hope this trend continues. I want him to try different seasonings, flavors and hotter spices (hotter than plain ole black pepper) now while his palate is so open and unbiased. And I think I'm well on my way to raising a healthy, well-rounded, foodie. Would you expect any less from someone like me?

:) Elle

**I despise the term "weight loss journey", but it's 3 am and I can't think of anything else. What I'm really doing is running my butt off with a Couch to 5K program and getting rid of all the crap food in my life. I'm focusing less on calories and pounds and more on getting my ass in gear.

***Okay, almost anything. Calvin has had everything from simple fruits and veggies to little bites of enchiladas and bison, but he will not eat a green bean to save his life. He's tried several different times and every time he makes the Mr. Yuk face. The conclusion I've come to is that he hates the texture. And since I REFUSE to over cook green beans (even for my son), I think it's just going to be this way. Also genetics. Charlie hates green beans.  But Calvin likes broccoli and spinach so I am not gonna complain. More green beans for me!