It's been a while...

I lost the motivation to blog, but I think I've found it again. Chicken is 17 months old and things are vastly different than they were back in March, when I posted last. I had stopped posting because I felt I had nothing more to say. Chicken was just eating. I made food. She ate it. That was that.

Well, now Chicken has discovered that she has an opinion on everything. She has become quite picky about food, along with being very vocal and easily frustrated.

My goal, now, is to post about this new phase in Chicken's life, where is she isn't exactly pigging out and how I'm muddling through without losing my mind entirely. Here's a recent photo of Chicken. She's growing up so fast!

She's a fickle pickle.

Chicken is one fickle gal. She loves something one day and dislikes it the next day. This happens all the time. She eats practically an entire cucumber so I go to the store to buy another, slice it up and she tosses the slices on the floor one by one. She eats three broccoli florets and wants more, so I quickly steam some and she ignores them.

I guess I should get used to it, right? I'm sure she'll be no more predictable when she's 8 and switching best friends daily or when she's 13 and telling us we're the worst parents ever.

It is interesting to observe her though. I made this risotto last week and Chicken devoured it. She couldn't get enough. She looked the broccoli as if to say, "Who invited you?"

The next night, we had leftover risotto with some sauteed zucchini and carrots. She shoveled the vegetables into her moth and starting tossing risotto until her dad moved it away.

The following day, I served her the leftover vegetables at lunch and she didn't even touch them. Is it possible she just doesn't like leftovers? I hope not, because we love leftovers around here!

Self Serve

Chicken is becoming an independent woman. She's mobile, communicative and somewhat demanding. A few weeks (or more?) ago, she started gesturing at what she wants. Of course, most of the food options are in the same general location on the table, so I tend to guess wrong more often than not.

Lately, she's very interested in serving herself food. She has started trying to put her spoon in the yogurt container (sometimes losing the spoon and just digging in with her hands...) and likes choosing her own pieces of food. I'm excited to see her exert her independence, but it does mean lots of messes to clean up. She likes to dig her around in a bowl of peas, blueberries...you name it. Sometimes she takes some out and eats them and sometimes she just plays with them, but either way, she's learning about making choices and having fun too.

Straws Save the Day!

I know I've been slacking. Sorry! I think my mind is occupied with thoughts of 1st birthday parties, our wet basement and Bethenny Every After.

But, we've had some great developments around here! Chicken can drink through a straw! Hooray! As Chicken gets closer to one year old, it's important that she be able to drink from a cup. I bought a number of sippy cups and they just didn't work. She couldn't tip them back far enough, especially in her high chair. When I gave them to her out of her high chair, she could tip them back, but had trouble getting anything out if the cup had a valve. If the cup didn't have a valve, she could get sips, but the water would go everywhere. I decided to teach her how to drink from a regular cup (no lid) first. I don't mind mopping up a bit of water and it helped her to learn how to control how much water would get to her mouth. We tried sippy cups again and it didn't work well for us, because I think the need to mash down on the spout of the cup translated to some problematic nursing sessions. Then we moved on to straw cups. Kids need to learn to drink from straws anyway, so I figured we'd just skip the sippy mastery. I bought a few different kinds of straw cups, but Chicken just chewed on the straws. We started giving her sips from our water classes when out at restaurants, but plugging the top of the straw with a finger and releasing the water once the straw was in her mouth. We did this a bunch of times and continued offering the straw cups at home. We used these three kinds of cups:

This pink one, Playtex Lil Gripper Straw Trainer, was recommended on some mommy forums because you can squeeze the cup to get liquid through the straw to help your child get the idea of the straw. We use it now, but it didn't do the trick. The First Years Take 'n Toss were on sale so I got them, figuring they'd come in handy. They're flexible, so you can squeeze them too. We like them a lot now also. I haven't tossed any yet. We'll just reuse them until the lose their luster. The last one, by Zo-li, is awesome because the straw is weighted and flexible the whole way down. So, if there's any water in the cup, Chicken get suck it up. With most straw cups, she'd tilt them and then suck in a bunch of air because of the angle of the straw.

Chicken's dad and I have no idea what clicked with Chicken. One day she was chewing on the straw and the next day she was drinking water. She now "demands" water with every meal. I try to limit it to a few sips with food, because I don't want her to fill up on water rather than food or breast milk.

I'm thrilled about this development because it helps Chicken to be more independent and, although I'm getting sad about the prospect of weaning her to cow's milk, at least now I know she'll be ready to use a cup when she needs to.

The Big Apple

I have been neglecting my blog. I'm not sure that anyone, aside from my loyal friends, is reading. I keep meaning to write a post and then get distracted by other responsibilities (and episodes of Top Chef All-Stars...). Here's a post to make up for the past few weeks.

We took Chicken to NYC for a long weekend and had a great time. It was a perfect example of why BLW works for us. We didn't have to bring any special food for Chicken or plan our meals especially for her, aside from considering bedtime. I did pack fresh fruit because I wanted to make sure we all got a few servings in over the weekend, but otherwise, Chicken ate what we ate. Here's a bit about our meals.

We ate lunch one day at a delicatessen near our hotel. I ordered matzoh ballsoup, a reuben and a fruit plate. Chicken's dad had a chicken sandwich (ha ha ha). Chicken had matzoh ball, chicken and veggies from the soup and fruit. We also ordered her a mini bagel because she loves bagels...

That night, we weren't all that hungry and it was getting too late to take Chicken out to eat. She snacked on an apple. (I take a few bites to reveal some of the flesh and then she scrapes away at it with her teeth.) Then, we ordered room service and each had a bit to eat before bed. We ordered the kids' chicken fingers and an eggplant panini. Chicken ate bits of chicken, eggplant, tomato, multigrain bread with pesto, and a pear that I'd brought from home. Her dad and I ate the amazing fries that came with the chicken fingers. Just because she can eat what we eat, doesn't mean she should. She looks like a greasy little piggy in this picture, but she was busy chowing down! Our room had a huge window seat with a wipeable cushion so we perched chicken there and scrounged around the room for a non-breakable "plate".

The next morning, we'd planned to meet family for breakfast, but since we wake up very early, we had "1st breakfast" in our hotel room. We'd gotten gourmet rice pudding the day before. Since it's all natural and basically just rice, cream, sugar and eggs, I felt like we could all splurge and enjoy some. We also had blueberries from home

.

Later that morning we walked around and met family for brunch. I'd been worried that we wouldn't find high chairs around the city, but Chicken quickly reminded me how flexible she is. She ate sitting on my lap and right off of my plate. We had scrambled eggs, fruit and english muffin. I don't have a photo of us eating, but trust me, she did a great job!

That night, we met friends for dinner at a tiny Greek restaurant. Luckily we got there early and snagged the table by the window. It had a little window seat that Chicken could crawl around. We got hummus with pita that Chicken devoured. She got tired by the time our food came so she just picked at rice, lentils, vegetables and feta.

The next morning we went to brunch at a nearby hotel. Chicken had some of her favorites: fruit, bagel and scrambled eggs. We stopped at Chelsea Market on the way home to check out. We tried some yummy gelato. The woman who waited on us gave us a spoonful of vanilla just for Chicken. She tasted it and was so surprised by how cold it was. She cracked us up because she was just as surprised with every little taste. She loved it, of course!

I realize that some people might be critical of how much Chicken indulged over the weekend...Rice pudding! Gelato! Keep in mind that she's still nursing and getting her nutrition from breast milk. We feel that she can try all sorts of foods, in moderation, as long as they aren't dangerous (e.g. no nuts, popcorn...).

Chicken is an odd duck...

Actually, I don't know that she's odd since I don't spend time eating meals with other 10 month-olds. She is quirky though! When we went out to dinner last week, she wolfed down about 8 slices of cucumber. Since then, she hasn't eat any! Today, I gave her some with lunch and she just tore all of the slices into little pieces. She'd use all of her strength to tear them and then laughwhen the seeds shot out. (It's a good thing I have a sense of humor about these things!) She was also eating about 4 or 5 slices of cantaloupe each morning and now won't eat any. I guess she'shad her fill!

The other funny thing she's been doing is eating foods off a spoon that she won't eat otherwise. If her dad or I put peas, green beans, etc on a spoon, she'll eat them. She's also been trying to place bits of food on her spoon and eat things that way. I need to do some research about how to help her eat with utensils. She seems happier eating from a spoon than with her hands these days.

I guess it's good that she does so well with a spoon. She's had a nasty cold for a few days and has had difficult nursing and less appetite than usual for solids. I've been giving her purees whenever I can as an attempt to get some good stuff in her.

Today's menu:

breakfast -2 strips of blueberry pancake (frozen from a weekend a breakfast weeks ago), yogurt, blueberries, pureed pears

lunch - bits of rotisserie chicken, green beans, some bits of leftover salmon, the rest of the pears

dinner- a few tastes of shredded pork, some mixed vegetables, organic tater tots, some spoonfuls of pureed carrots

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ok, so the wish is a day late, but this post is about our romantic dinner out. Chicken's dad took Chicken and me to a local Irish pub for dinner. We aren't big on Valentine's Day around here, so it was fitting that the whole place was already decorated for St. Patrick's Day. We went early - around 5:30 after Chicken had a good nap. As has been the case in the past, Chicken was a lovely dining companion!

I had a side salad and offered Chicken the cucumber slices that were on top. She devoured them so the waitress was kind enough to bring more. For her entree, Chicken had some of my fish 'n chips (just the flaky cod without the fried stuff), some steamed potatoes, a few bits of her dad's burger, some steamed broccoli and a container of yogurt. I really didn't have to bring the yogurt, because Chicken is usually fine with whatever her dad and I get, but I knew she'd eat the yogurt and be happy so it was a little insurance that she'd be content.

We've started offering Chicken water more regularly with meals at home and have been doing so while out as well. We just get some water into a straw, stop up the top end with a finger and slowly release the suction once Chicken has the bottom end in her mouth. She LOVES drinking water this way. I'll have to get a photo next time!

P.S. Chicken doesn't dine with her hat on...We were getting ready to leave when I thought to snap a photo.

The same...but different.

Tonight's post is about tonight's dinner. I made "salsa chicken", which is probably the world's easiest recipe. You take chicken breasts and salsa, dump it in the slow cooker and turn the thing on. The result is super most chicken that is flavorful and easily shredded. Chicken's dad and I had nachos, but in an effort to minimize Chicken's sodium intake, she had a modified version. She had the salsa chicken, but with cheesy polenta instead of the chips. She also had some cucumber, some yellow squash, a container of pureed sweet potatoes and half an avocado. Yes, we're still offering some purees since she's fickle about vegetables... and I'm neurotic.

This post seems short, so I'll add the rest of Chicken's menu for today:

Breakfast: organic quick oats with apple butter and cinnamon, blueberries, a few bits of pineapple

Lunch: Toast with cream cheese, pureed peas, mixed vegetables(green beans, peas, corn, carrots - she didn't eat too much of that) and a pear.

Superbowl Sunday

I'm kicking myself because Chicken did some great eating today and I didn't get photos of any of it!

We went out to breakfast this morning and she was an eating machine! We got fruit to start and, as usual, we couldn't get it to her fast enough. She ate a ton of blueberries, some honeydew, some mango and a few bites of banana. Then she had some pancake, scrambled eggs and multi grain french toast. I think she would have kept eating anything we put in front of her, so I pulled out some cantaloupe slices that I had brought from home. We're noticing that she seems to want to keep eating as long as we're eating. I'd prefer that she eat more fruit than more carbs, like pancakes.

I made a quick soup for lunch. It was just chicken broth, a box of frozen soup vegetables (potatoes, spinach and asparagus), chopped carrots and cannellini beans. She tossed most of the carrots right away, which is so strange because she loves pureed carrots. She was slow to eat the other stuff at first, so I offered her some pear and a bit of Swiss cheese. She gobbled those up and then went to town on the stuff from the soup.

Since our team wasn't playing tonight, we didn't do anything big. I made nachos and pigs in blankets because the Superbowl is a good excuse for junk. We ate our junk before the big game so that Chicken could eat before bed. She did not have any pigs or blankets, but did have the taco turkey that I used for the nachos, plus some "chips" that I made. I just tore up whole wheat lavosh, sprayed it with olive oil and baked it. She had some humus with her "chips". I steam some baby zucchini for all of us. Chicken nibbled on them and seemed to enjoy them.

She ate a variety of foods today, including more carbs than usual but definitely lots of fruits and vegetables. The fruit this morning and the soup vegetables weren't organic, but we just do the best we can!

Join us for lunch!

I haven't been keeping up with blogging as much as I'd like. I think part of it is because Chicken is eating well and there haven't been any major developments lately. I decided to video tape her eating lunch today so you can see how she's doing. Lunch today was: leftover roasted zucchini, cucumber spears, cantaloupe and deli turkey. I've never given Chicken deli meat before, but we made a trip to Wegmans and they had organic, all natural deli turkey, so I got some for myself and figured Chicken could try it too. It was easy for her to eat because it tore up into little pieces easily. She enjoyed the turkey and the cantaloupe. She kept signing for more cantaloupe and ended up having four slices! **Blogger keeps rejecting my video. Stay tuned.**

I also want to share an article that I found linked on the blog: http://www.baby-led-solids.blogspot.com/

Battle Broccoli

As I've written, Chicken is not exactly a fan of vegetables. She's been eating more recently, particularly at lunch, and I've promised Chicken's dad that I won't stress about it. (If you know me "IRL", as they say, you're laughing right about now.) Rather than stressing, I've decided to offer Chicken many options and just hope she doesn't throw it all on the floor.

I made stir fry tonight, which is a great opportunity to enjoy vegetables. In many cases, stir fry is very BLW friendly, but I happen to like my vegetables bite-sized and that's not ideal for Chicken. She does best with big pieces, which she can hold onto and munch on , or tiny bits. So, I just cut some larger pieces of broccoli, carrots and yellow bell pepper for her and cooked them a bit longer than the smaller pieces for Chicken's dad and me. She dug in to the brown rice and chicken without hesitation, but ignored the vegetables on her tray. It occurred to me, while we ate, that Chicken hasn't been "regular" over the past few days. We're out of prunes, so I dug out a package of organic pureed peas, pears and spinach that I bought to try. Peas and pears are both recommended to remedy such situations.

Chicken LOVED this puree and it was so easy to serve because it squirts out like toothpaste. Anyway, she ate spoonful after spoonful. Then she signed "finished" so we cleaned her up. She got very fussy and vocalized some complaints (we're guessing) so we signed "more" and gave her back her tray. She picked up her broccoli and started checking it out. It looked like she wasn't really sure what to do with it. I leaned over and took a little bite of it. Then she took a bite and offered it back to me. (She's really into sharing lately.) We went bite for bite for a few minutes. I offered her some more broccoli and she went to work eating it, picking it apart, and offering some to her dad.

In my ideal world, I wouldn't interfere with Chicken's food experiences. I don't want to start manipulating her when it comes to food, which I feel parents do when they play the whole "Here comes the airplane!" game. However, my experience as a teacher tells me that sometimes you need to connect new experiences/skills to existing experiences and skills in order for someone to be comfortable taking risks. So, if Chicken likes sharing and ends up discovering that broccoli isn't so bad by sharing with me, then I'm ok with that.

P.S. Chicken's dad gets credit for the photos!

Let's do lunch.

Actually, let's do vegetables at lunch. I started thinking that maybe Chicken's veggie tossing at dinner has more to do with dinner than veggies. Her dad is home, the dogs are hovering and she's tired. Any of those things could mess with her mood to eat.

It's snowing here AGAIN and Chicken decided to hibernate this morning. She took a seriously long nap so I took the opportunity to make some soup. Chicken and I have enjoyed this canned organic soup but it's pricey so I tried to make something similar. I use vegetable stock, green lentils, sweet potatoes, carrots and butternut squash. Chicken and I had soup (hers sans broth), cucumber, and leftover roasted zucchini for lunch. She played with it all, but hardly tossed anything. She wanted more cucumber and zucchini and ate as much of the soup as she could get to her mouth. (Since I couldn't offer big pieces of vegetables in the soup, I cut everything really small and lentils are tiny, so it wasn't super easy to manage.)

Since things were going so well, I grabbed a little stalk of raw

broccoli from the fridge and Chicken tasted it, which really surprised me. She gnawed at the stem end and took three bites of the little leaves. She didn't love it, but at least it got a chance before being tossed!

This presents me with a challenge. Usually lunch is the meal that I just toss together and it's the one that we miss sometimes if we're out and about. However, it seems like it's my best chance to get some veggies into this Chicken. I guess I'll have to dedicate some more time to prepping vegetables so that they're easy to grab from the fridge in a pinch.

You take the good. You take the bad.

It's been a while since my last post. I was sick and we were consumed with playoff football. :) A few things are going on here in our little BLW world.

The good:

• Chicken is getting so good at picking up little pieces! I served her avocado today and it was a little over ripe so I put it on a spoon and she kept picking the pieces off to eat them with her fingers (pictured above).
• She rarely tosses her spoon on the floor anymore.
• We went out to breakfast last week and Chicken was such a lovely dining companion. She gobbled up everything we offered her: fruit, eggs, avocado, toast...She was happy as a clam.
• We've been working on two signs with Chicken. She's doing a great job mimicking the sign for "finished", although we're not sure that she really means "finished" when she does it...
• She LOVED her breakfast this morning. She ate twice as much oatmeal as she has in the past. I made instant organic oats and mixed in some pear butter and cinnamon. Yum!
• Chicken devoured chicken at dinner tonight. I was brave enough to give her a big piece and let her deal with it. She bit off some pieces that were making me nervous, but she worked on them in her mouth or spit them out and tore them into smaller bits.

The bad:

• Chicken is in a phase (I hope it's a phase!!!!) of throwing lots of food on the floor.
• She is on a vegetable strike, unless they're pureed that is. She has somehow figured out what foods are vegetables without tasting them. She picks through whatever is on her tray and tosses the veggies. Grrr!!
• The signing of "finished" and "more" is frustrating for me because I'm not really sure if she's signing or just playing with her hands. If I miss the "finished" sign, I think it leads to more food on the floor.

And, just because I feel like I haven't posted in a while -

Here's what Chicken ate today:

Breakfast: oatmeal w/ pear butter and cinnamon, melon, blueberries

Lunch: rice cake, avocado, mango (LOTS of avocado and mango!)

Dinner: chicken, orzo with pesto, and maybe a bite of carrot that she ate accidentally...

Where's the beef?

It's right there - in Chicken's hands!

When people find out that Chicken eats "real" food, they always ask, "But, not meat, right?" Wrong. One of Chicken's first foods was chicken. She has tried beef, turkey, chicken and pork in various forms and preparations. When we first started out with BLW, I offered Chicken strips of whatever meat we were having for dinner and she'd gum away at them and suck out any juices. She's also had lots of ground meats and also some all natural sausages. Recently, I've been shredding up chicken rather than giving her big pieces and she's done great with it. We don't eat much beef, so she's definitely had more poultry than anything else.

I made steak the other night, though, and I was faced with a dilemma. Steak isn't really shred-able (at least not the cheap and rather unskillfully cooked pieces that I was serving) and I was nervous about Chicken's new practice of using her teeth to tear off pieces of food. I've become pretty confident that she can manage her food, but a piece of tough steak in her mouth made me nervous.

At first, I gave her a strip of meat that happened to be the outside edge of my steak. She tasted it and tossed it. She explored the other stuff on her tray and discovered baked potato, for which she went nuts. Who wouldn't?? She searched her tray for the teensiest smidgens of potato and gobbled them up. Then I gave her another piece of meat that was from the middle of my steak and had less marinade on it. She tasted it and seemed to like it much better. The meat was tough enough that she couldn't tear a bite off, though she did try. She gummed away at it, sucking at the marinade and the iron-rich meat juices. She didn't really use her teeth at all, but stuck it right where a new tooth is coming in. I think it must have felt great on her irritated gums.

I've been wanting a burger, so we took Chicken to the diner last night and I got my greasy fix. I order some steamed vegetables for Chicken, but she wasn't interested. I gave her a few bits of the greasy beefy goodness that I'd ordered and she gobbled them up. She played with the vegetables and ate some, but probably would've eaten the whole burger, bun and all, if I'd let her!

As I said, we rarely eat beef so I'm not worried about her having some tiny morsels of burger occasionally. Luckily, she really does like healthy foods. We had wild-caught flounder the other night and she really enjoyed it. Flounder is great because it's flaky and soft*. It's also low in mercury, which is important.

*Be sure to check fish for tiny pin bones before offering any pieces to your little one!

A "berry" exciting development!

First, let's clear the air. Yes, I did just do that...the whole very/berry thing. Let's move on.

We went to a party on Sunday and there were tons of yummy brunch foods to choose from. I offered Chicken some bagel, figuring she'd want to eat if everyone else was eating and I didn't want her to make a mess. She enjoyed the bagel but kept reaching for my quiche. We didn't have a highchair with a handy plastic tray so I offered her some pieces of quiche on my napkin and she tasted them. Some ended up on me and the floor, but she ate a bit and the dog helped clean up. I helped myself to some fruit salad. I hadn't planned on sharing with Chicken because the melon was cut into chunks -too big for her to safely manage in her mouth, but too small to hold on to and take bites- and then there were blueberries which she'd shown no interest in before. Well, of course, Chicken stuck her little hand right in my bowl and helped herself. She started with some honeydew and then some watermelon. We found a spot to sit and eat so that she food focus on managing those slippery bits in her mouth and I could focus on her, in case the too-big-but-too-small pieces caused a problem. She gummed away and ate piece after piece. Then she had some blueberries one by one. I think it helped that the fruit had been mingling for a while so everything had a chance to soften up and get juicy.

I figured she must've liked the blueberries this time because they were softened up and flavored by the melons. Why else would she like them all of a sudden? I bought some organic blueberries to offer her at home to see if she'd eat them plain. She went nuts for them this morning! Watching her eat them, it occurred to me that she was doing so well picking them up and getting them into her mouth. I've read again and again that, contrary to popular belief and practice, small pieces of food are less safe for babies than large pieces that they can hold onto securely. The development of the pincer grasp, seen here in a photo I found online, is a sign that a baby can safely manage smaller foods in his/her mouth (not including nuts and other foods that they need a full set of teeth to chew).

Well, Chicken isn't quite there yet, but she's super close!

Yay for her getting those little blueberries into her mouth so skillfully! I'm excited to have another fruit option to offer her for breakfast.

Will BLW work for you?

I've rewritten this post a few times...not an efficient use of nap time! It's tricky, though, because I want to share my feelings about introducing babies to food without insulting anyone or making it seem like I'm some sort of expert. So, let's start with this:

There's no right or wrong way to feed your baby as long as he/she is nourished, safe, and happy. I'm doing what works for me and am sharing that with you. My only experience is the past three months or so with Chicken, so I'm no expert. I'm certainly not a doctor, no matter how many episodes of House I've seen!

With that said, I know that some people who visit this blog are interested in BLW, but aren't sure if it's a good fit for their family. Here are some questions (and some accompanying information) I'd ask anyone fitting that description:

1. How old is your baby?

BLW should not begin before six months. There is no need to feed a baby under six months anything other than formula/breast milk and he/she will not be able to safely manage food before this age. Babies older than a year need nutrition from food, so a few nibbles and tastes of food (as is common when starting BLW) might not be enough. That doesn't mean older babies can't eat this way. It's a great way to learn about food, but you need to know that the actual eating doesn't start right away.

2. Who do you think should be in control of how much your baby eats?

If you think it's you, then "pure" BLW isn't for you. There's a lot of trust and faith required when BLWing...You need to know that your baby (6months -12 months) is learning about food and may not eat as much as you think he/she should.

3. Are you (and your child's other caregivers) comfortable with the gagging and mess that come with BLW?

Babies gag. Babies who eat solid food gag quite a bit. Whoever is feeding your baby needs to be ok with that. If the daycare provider, grandma, nanny etc is going to freak out every time Baby gags, it won't work.

Babies who feed themselves make messes. (Have you seen the photos of Chicken???) That's how they learn about food. If you're not ok with that, then this might not be for you.

4. What's your motivation for trying something other than the "traditional" (maybe common is a better word...) way of introducing your child to food?

BLW is about Baby learning about food. It's not about filling him up so he sleeps through the night. It's about him experiencing the textures, tastes, shapes, colors, sensations of food and the socializing that occurs when he eats WITH his family.

If your baby is six months or older and you want him/her to learn about food by self-feeding, then you can do a form of BLW for sure. There's a spectrum with BLW. Parents who spoon-feed purees and control what/how much Baby eats are at one end. Parents who offer "real" food that Baby eats independently are at the other end. As I've said before, I offer Chicken purees on a loaded spoon, which other BLW moms might not.

I'm going to start adding some tips for modifying BLW for moms who may want to try it, but aren't totally on board yet or aren't sure their child's other caregivers will be ok with it.

Here's my first tip: Let your baby (6 months or older!) feed him/herself cereal. If you're baby is able to eat oatmeal then skip the flaky kind and buy some real oats. (We use organic instant oatmeal.) Make it thick, with just enough water, formula or breast milk to cook the oats. Then put some globs on your baby's tray and let him/her eat it by the fistful. You can add in mashed up pear (or some spoonfuls of pureed fruit) and a dash or two of cinnamon. If you're nervous about it being too thick (it probably won't be), you can thin it out some more, but it needs to be thick enough to pick up. Be prepared for some oatmeal in the hair and even for your baby to just sit there at first unsure what to do. Oh, and be sure to join him/her by having your breakfast too!

Coming to terms...

Ok, here's the deal. I want Chicken to be the kid who eats her vegetables when no one else does. I was that kid. My mom would pack me bizarre lunches, including the cold leftover vegetables from the night before - asparagus, broccoli, whatever. I don't know what I was like as a baby when it came to food, but I turned out to be an adventurous eater and I enjoy (even if I don't always choose) healthy foods. I want that for Chicken.

The problem is, she doesn't like green vegetables. She tosses big pieces of broccoli to the side, spits the little ones out, waves asparagus at me like, "Uh...what is this thing?"

I think the big problem is that we're in a weird in-between time with regards to handling food and actually eating it. Chicken hasn't yet developed a pincer grasp (using thumb and forefinger to pick up tiny objects one by one) so peas are frustrating, as are tiny pieces of anything that I cut up. Big pieces of vegetables or whole pieces, like green beans) are hard to bite with her four (ok, 3 1/2) teeth. Or maybe she just doesn't like the taste of them...She eats beets and mushrooms for crying out loud. Why not a bean?? To her credit, she grabs the spoon from my hand to shovel pureed carrots, beans, peas, etc into her mouth but that's no fun!

Obviously this situation causes me agita. It shouldn't. We have years and years ahead of us to taste vegetables in their many shapes, sizes, textures and flavors. So, for now, I'll keep offering her big pieces, little pieces, raw pieces, cooked pieces (one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish). I'll offer her pureed vegetables too so that I don't lay awake at night worrying that she'll going to grow up to only eat Twinkies and pork rinds.

On Today's Menu...

I have a few minutes and I want to add another quick post for today. So much has been happening in our little BLW world lately and I'm afraid I'm going to forget things...

I visit a BLW forum online and posted there asking other moms to share a sample menu of what their children eat in one day. I'm curious to know what other moms (and dads) are doing, especially since I don't know anyone else who is introducing food to their children this way. I got a wide range of responses, particularly because the posters had children of varying ages. Also, some moms are hardcore when it comes to health, others are dealing with allergies, and some are doing a modified version of BLW. I figured if I was going to ask other people to share their menus, I should share as well.

Here's what I offered Chicken today. She tried it all, but definitely ate more of some things than of others.

• Breakfast: plain whole milk organic yogurt with some apricot applesauce mixed in, cantaloupe, pear
• Lunch: polenta (soft with a splash of milk), shredded chicken, cucumber, tiny bits of clementine.*
• Dinner: vegetable curry (eggplant, sweet potato, red bell pepper, carrot), brown rice, yogurt (to cut the spiciness of the curry). I mixed the yogurt and rice so she could eat it with her hands and she loved itI also offered her larger, plain versions of the veggies from the curry. She tried everything and seemed less affected by the spice than I was.
Here she is eating lunch. :)

*Many people warn against introducing citrus fruits to babies because of the acidity. Citrus can cause diaper rash, tummy upset, etc. I've often Chicken little tastes of orange, pineapple and now clementine. She loves it all. I always offer it with other foods and never more than a few bits for now. This goes for tomatoes too.

Soup's On!

When I was growing up, my mom would make homemade chicken noodle soup pretty frequently. Every time she made it I would complain and ask for soup from a can. I had to laugh when I went to share some of a can of soup with Chicken the other day and realized how unhealthy canned soup is. My mom was right all along! There is a ton of sodium, additives and preservatives. Plus, the cans are a well known source of BPA, which I try to avoid when possible. Luckily I've spent the past 10 years trying to make soup like my mom used to make.

So, this weekend, even though it was 20 degrees warmer than it has been, I decided to make some chicken noodle soup and I was eager to share it with Chicken. I simply used a slotted spoon, rather than a ladle, when serving up Chicken's soup so that she got the bits of chicken, vegetables and noodles without the broth. I also let her try some of the broth on a loaded spoon, but, as you can imagine, not much made it to her mouth. Of course, Chicken favored the noodles, but she also seemed to enjoy the chicken, celery, carrots and zucchini (not a regular component of my soup, but we had some). When she and I had soup for lunch the next day, I picked out the chicken and veggies so that she wouldn't eat a ton of noodles again.

This was Chicken's second experience with soup, since we had creamy butternut squash soup on Thanksgiving. I've been looking for more recipes to try that are low in sodium and full of good stuff.

Happy New Year!

Wow. 2011! It's hard to believe...Chicken was in my belly in 2009, born in 2010 and here we are in 2011. We rung the new year in with some friends and family. Chicken indulged a bit, enjoying some pizza crust and a crostini spread with some yummy herb cheese. She also ate some pureed green beans, so that I wouldn't feel too guilty...

The new calendar year has never struck me as a time of new beginnings, probably because I taught for eight years and the new school year was much more significant. But, now that I'm home with Chicken, I'll join the bandwagon of folks with big plans for the new year. Aside from my personal goals for the year, I have some that relate to Chicken's food journey directly.

1 - Figure out how to buy more organic without going broke.
Is this one even possible?? I often find myself getting dizzy trying to compare prices and decide how to spend less but still buy what healthiest for Chicken. Anyone with a baby knows that shopping trips should NOT include wasted time debating what to buy!

2- Try some recipes from other cuisines and cultures.
I really want Chicken to be exposed to spices and flavors that are interesting and different. I'm not sure that her dad will love this plan, but I'm going to try anyway. My mom never "dumbed down" meals to appeal to me, just because I was a child. We ate tons of vegetables and often worked our way through whatever new cookbook she'd purchased...I even recall about of month of recipes involving bulgar wheat!

3- Relax and be flexible.
Ok, this should be my goal all the time, regarding everything. But, it's especially important regarding BLW. Sometimes I find myself panicking (not a far reach for me, if you know me...) about what to make for dinner or what Chicken and I should have for lunch. Of course, I want to offer her healthy options and make something that her dad will enjoy. Luckily, she's a baby and will play with (and perhaps ingest!) pretty much anything I put in front of her without judging me...So, a lunch of a slice of cheese, some pear, and hummus on a rice cake is perfectly fine for her even if she had the same thing the day before.
I tend to get myself worked up about whether something I gave her is the cause for whatever is or is not in her diaper. I need to remember that as long as she's not in discomfort and is not dehydrated, she'll more than likely work it out for herself!

4- Keep my eye on the prize.
The prize, in this case, is a healthy, happy baby. Sometimes I beat myself up because she doesn't "eat" anything at dinner, but rather plays with it all, or because she spits out broccoli every time she tastes it. BLWing does not ensure that Chicken is going to LOVE vegetables and eat like a grown up. I need to remember that!

I have a lot on my mind, as usual, that I want to post about when I have some time...Check back for some confessions, tips for busy moms who want to try BLW and my thoughts on soup. Woohoo! :)