The dog has a bit of holiday weight....

Some people are cat people.  Me?  I'm a dog person.  I have always grown up with dogs and having one of my own now, I can honestly say that he has added so much value to our lives.  He cuddles and plays and is such an amazing big brother and companion for William.  He's our "other" baby - Tressel. 

I recently took Tressel to the vet for his annual vaccinations and check-up.  Tressel is a black lab and had previously weighed about 79 or 80 pounds.  Big boy is now up to 86 pounds.  That's quite a steep jump and I could see their vet, judgy eyes looking at me as if I'm a horrible dog parent that let their child's weight get away from them.

They took us to the tiny room where Tressel roamed and sniffed and I was feeling guilty that my dog had let himself go (which means I suck as a doggy mommy).  The questions come.  Any problems since your last visit?  No.  What kind of food do you feed him?  Oh boy, here it comes.  Does he get exercise? Well, yes, but umm, it's been cold and we've been busy...  Does he get table food?  Umm...why yes, we do have a one year old.....

I blamed it on William....

As you can see, Tressel claims his spot immediately next to William for all three meals.  It didn't take long for him to figure that one out.  Makes for the floor clean-up quite easy after meals....

Just act cool, Tressel.....they are watching.  You can have some of my food in a minute....

Dinner Time

Dinner time sure has changed in the last year. 

Pre-baby, dinners would be just Adam and me on our stools at the kitchen counter (or let's be serious, in front of the TV).  Nothing too fancy - sit and chat about our days, clean up, relax.  Pregnancy dinners were most likely spent in front of the TV while I balanced my plate on my belly - my patience and back hurt too much to try to sit at the counter.  William was born and eating was around his schedule.  I would try to feed him first, then inhale whatever was for dinner and then go tend to him.  Then we started putting him in the bouncer seat on the counter in between us to talk about our day and to just admire how cute he was.  Then William was big enough for the high chair!  We would pull him up in line with us at the counter (we seriously do have a kitchen table....) and I would take quick bites while feeding him whatever puree I picked out for the day for him.  Every once in awhile, we would give him some Cheerios or some teeny tiny pieces of fruit.  At this point, even those didn't slow him down. 

Now I'm trying to let him feed himself.  Dinners have now gone from about 20 minute sprints to about hour long food play marathons.  It's a good lesson in patience for me while I practice not just saying "Never mind, let me do it."  We sit and he slowly brings one teeny piece of green bean or turkey to his mouth at a time.  It's a miracle if at least half of the food makes it into his mouth.  Mommy is always there to help him, but it's pretty entertaining to just watch him try himself. 

Also - not sure if it's WAY too early to tell, but he is mostly preferring to use his left hand when he does everything.  Can you tell this early if they will be right or left-handed?

You would eat slow too if your fingers were this small and all the adults gave you was a spoon!

Food from 'home'

Although I live in Illinois now, I was born and raised in Ohio.  Grew up near Cincinnati and went to The Ohio State University (yes, The).  Although I love where we are now, there is plenty I miss from home - family (most of my family is in Ohio), Ohio State, friends and then there's the food.  I guess when you grow up eating certain food regularly, when you can't have it anymore on a regular basis you CRAVE it! 

Even though I can get the sauce in jars to bring to Illinois, I miss LaRosa's pizza.  I miss Graeter's ice cream - seriously, can someone get me a turtle sundae, please.  And above all, I repeat, ABOVE ALL, I miss Skyline Chili.  It is my favorite food, hands down.  I worked at Skyline (can you say Skyline chili chick, Alisha?) for many years in high school and college and before I moved to Illinois had probably never gone more than a week without eating it.  I was one of the happiest ladies in the world when I discovered I could actually get it here at the grocery (although it's not the same).  Just the smell brings me back...yummy.

Well, I'm happy to now be able to share that with lil' man.  Over the weekend, he tried it and it's official, he's my son.  He LOVED it.  There's some hope that he may have a chance to be a Cincinnati boy after all. 

Baby's 1st Cincinnati chili 3-way:  spaghetti, chili, cheese

Wordless Wednesday - Messy

An Infant's Guide to Eating

Step #1 - Come dressed to impressed - it's the first impression and when you look good, you feel good. 

Step #2 - Concentrate.  This is important.  If you have to use Jedi mind tricks, do it.  Anything to get THAT food into your mouth.

Step #3 - It sometimes helps to use the double-fisted approach.  Twice the food in the same amount of time...

 

Step #4 - Make funny faces.  This doesn't help you eat the food, but food always tastes better when you are having fun, right?

Step #6 - You've made your funny faces, now turn up the adorable and look super handsome.  Work the camera and look good....

Step #6 - SHARE! Nothing shows off your charm more than if you share your food. Never mind that it's from the hand that you have been drooling on and licking for the past 20 minutes, it all tastes good.

Step #7 - Made a mess?  Just act cool.....this is the time to blame it on the dog....

Purees it is....

We have hit another baby (or is it a parenting) milestone.  I had him try some pears last night (which he loved - the usual: peel, steam, puree, freeze) and I decided to give him some dice bananas for him to feed himself.  Like, actual pieces of food.  I just took the very tip of the banana and sliced into a few pieces.  I then was sure that I had over-estimated the size of his mouth and ability to not choke on these and sliced again.  Repeat about four times until I had practically microscopic pieces of banana for the high chair.  He did pretty good.  Mostly played, but fed himself quite a few pieces. 

So after this experience where I didn't take my eyes off him for more than two seconds for fear of choking, I made the decision that I don't think I can take the stress of food choking hazards and therefore he will stay on purees until he is at least eleven twelve thirteen years old. 

William Eats - Carrots

Another veggie, another day.  Carrots this time.  You know the drill - peal, steam, puree, serve.  He was a little hesitant and over the last week that I have been adding these into William's diet, he seems to be getting used to them.  For foods he likes, he eats without a problem.  For the ones he doesn't like, he seems to enjoy trying to blow bubbles with the food and ends up spitting them all over the place.  Carrot spray was all over the counter, highchair, himself and me.  Lovely.  hehe

William Eats - Apples

So we haven't tried a new food with William over the last two weeks.  He (as well as hubby and me) has been getting over a nasty cold and figured it wasn't the time to potentially torture him with something he might not like or worse...be allergic to.

This week I went with something easy - apples.  I pealed and sliced two medium gala apples.  The usual - steam and puree.  Froze in ice cube trays (for up to three months).  William loved them and I would totally eat it too! 

Don't be fooled by this picture, he loved them....

"Yes, please..."

William Eats - Peas

I have a list of four foods that are on my personal "will not eat food" list.  That list consists of mushrooms, salmon, broccoli and......peas.  I hate peas.  I've hated peas my entire life.  Since I was such a picky eater growing up (much less so now) I am determined to do what I can to let my children try lots of food and hopefully like more than I did.  Easier said than done.  Over the weekend was another new food that I introduced to William - peas.  I used frozen peas - steamed, pureed, froze in ice cube tray.  Easy.  The last picture below is really all I need to show you how well he liked it.  No words necessary.

I didn't completely understand why William DID NOT like sweet potatoes.  He liked avocado and bananas - makes sense.  I absolutely get why he doesn't like peas.  They are horrible!  I figured I would give it a try but I think I'll be just fine if peas aren't a food we bring into our house.  hehe

Any foods you hate but you give your children?

William Eats - Banana

Another food that William likes and so easy to make fresh - banana.  Mama and baby shared a banana over the weekend.  I just took a ripe banana and mashed it up for lil' man.  Added a little breastmilk to smooth and thin it out a bit.  Couldn't be easier.  After a few bites I mixed in a little rice cereal too. 

William seemed to like it. 

Next up....peas....

William Eats - Avocado

Although I'm slightly behind on posting, I still wanted to continue to post about what William is eating.  Since William was less than interested in eating sweet potatoes, I decided to give avocados a try.  If I though making sweet potato puree was easy, avocado is the easiest thing ever.  Cut away skin and mash a bit.  I added a little bit of breastmilk to thin it out a little.  Easy, peasy.

Verdict - William loved it!

William Eats - Sweet Potato

So William seems to enjoy the cereal he has been getting for the last week.  We have decided to move him on to some simple purees.  We decided to start with sweet potato.  Excellent source for so many nutrients and fiber.  Since this isn't one of the disgusting stronger-tasting veggies and not one of the sweeter fruits, I figured it would be a good place to start.

Since my awesome mom got us a Beaba Babycook for Easter (thanks, mom!), it made it super easy (although a steamer or oven and food processor would work just fine).  I peeled, chopped, steamed and pureed the potatoes.  Super easy.  Freezing the rest in ice cube tray.

How did William like them?  He was ducking his head down to avoid me putting the spoon in his mouth.  There was gagging involved and I'm pretty sure he would rather have eaten his bib.  Ha!

Cautious, yet curious....

Hmm...not sure I like this.....

No...definitely sure I do not like this....get the taste out of my mouth, please!!

Make it stop...make it stop...

We will try something new next week.....

William is eating!

I feel like my mother when I say, "My little baby is growing up so fast."  But seriously...he's growing up so fast.  So yes, I do realize I've become a mommy cliche.  What of it??

William is quickly approaching six months and we have decided to start him on food.  He still loves his mommy's milk, but it seems like he could be interested in something more - sounds familiar, I get it.  We started him on organic rice cereal Friday evening and I think we'll plan to try a new food each weekend (yes...because I'm selfish and want to be able to make it and be there when he tries it hehe).

Verdict on cereal?  He loves it.  Lately he has had this funky discovery of his tongue going on and at first he was content holding the cereal on his tongue and sticking it out.  Then he realized he liked it and was fussing for more.  He's my son for sure and loves food already. 

We will be making our own baby food and we still aren't sure what we will try this weekend - I think we'll see what is fresh in the store.  We don't generally use organic, but I think we are going to buy organic for the dirty dozen.  

Stay tuned....