No Peas...Please Pass the Dirt

Our "garbage disposal" as we sometimes referred to Macy over the past year has disappeared. I mean, don't get me wrong - the girl can still eat. A lot. But she suddenly has preferences.

For just over a year of her life, Seth and I can honestly say that we do not recall her ever turning anything down. Ever.


In fact, most times we were cutting her off, simply in disbelief as to how much she had already put down. This actually started with nursing. She almost never declared herself done. It was me who made the decision to call it quits each eating session.

But garbage disposal no more. This girl has preferences.
Peas? Don't most kids eat peas?

Not Macy.

In fact, not only does she not eat peas, but as soon as she sees peas on her plate she starts crying. She leans so far over to one side in disappointment that she empties her bib onto the floor.

We get it. No peas.

Okay, then how about some carrots?

No thank you.

Organic, whole wheat pasta with all natural white cheddar cheese sauce?

No thank you.

I mean seriously - it's not like we're talking brussel sprouts or asparagus (both of which you have happily inhaled in the past).

So how about some spinach mixed in with your scrambled eggs...which you have had dozens of times in your short table-food-eating life?

No thank you. I'll eat egg, turkey and cheese bites, but will leave anything that even closely resembles a sliver of green. And I'll cry when all I have left on my plate is "green" bites.

For the first 6 to 9 months that Macy was eating solids (primarily puréed foods), she ate a TON of greens. Thanks to our weekly share of veggies from our CSA farm, her daily menu included pureed collard greens, kale, mustard greens, spinach, or some combination of these. This year I'll actually have to come up with some recipes to use up all of those greens in our share.

I'd like to think that she "ate her greens forward."

So with this in mind, I will relay a story from today. At one point when I realized Macy had been a bit quiet, and asked Norah to check on her. Typically when this happens we find her in her room "reading" books.

Not today.

Norah came running back into the office saying, "Mommy. Come see what Macy is doing!"

I followed her into the living room and found Macy kneeling beside a huge potted plant with a pile of dirt on the floor, and dirt on her hands and all around her mouth.

Um...seriously? You cry at the sight of peas and now you're eating DIRT??

She had been there long enough to have carpet imprints on her feet. Who knows how much dirt she ate (mmmm) and there was so much dirt on the floor that I put two handfuls back into the pot before vacuuming the rest up.

But again...it's a "no" on the peas.

Macy Update: Food, Phonics and Fun

Food
Since day one Macy really has had no eating issues at all. She nursed well just a few minutes after entering this world and she hasn't turned back. It has been a huge relief for me after struggling with Norah.

I haven't been in a big hurry to start solids, but when we were at the lake over New Years we tried some of Mikayla's food on Macy just for fun and she put it right down. She had several bites of a pureed beets and carrots combination and several more of peas mixed with pears. No problem.

About a week ago we tried some rice cereal mixed with breast milk. We (the proud parents) thought she was remarkably proficient for as little as she has eaten with a spoon. This weekend we did rice cereal several times and also some applesauce. Each time she gets significantly better at keeping everything in her mouth. In fact, she now leans into the spoon when she sees it heading toward her mouth. So far she hasn't turned anything down.

Mom and dad are here today and Macy was a little unsure of dad. Then we sat her in her chair next to him at the table, she took one look at him and busted out crying. When mom picked her up she was fine. Then mom tried to put her back in her chair and she did it all over again.

But then dad started feeding her and everything was okay. He held her off and on for the rest of the afternoon with no problem.

It's pretty fun to sit down at the table with all four of us. We bought a booster for Norah, and Macy is using Norah's old one. Usually Macy is just playing, but as we integrate solid food into her diet over the next several weeks she'll start eating with us more.

Phonics
In Macy's 6-month blog entry I failed to mention that she is becoming more vocal. "Da" is the first sound I think she made (what a horrible second-time parent...I'm sure I have note of when Norah made her first recognizable sound, and exactly what it was), and she also says "Ba" and "Ga." We often here these sounds when she is waking up from a nap, or sometimes at night after I have nursed her and she is going back to sleep.

Fun
Macy has quickly become very good at sitting up. She seems to much prefer it to laying down, and is easily entertained for a long time sitting on the floor with a toy in front of her. A few nights last week Seth came home to find the three of us in Macy's room. Norah was running from one side of the room to the other over and over again while Macy just sat on the floor watching. From the back all I saw was her bald head going back and forth...back and forth.

Fun activities for us this weekend included:

- Mimi taking Norah to the Children's Museum
- Mimi staying overnight
- Several runs in beautiful weather
- Walking to friend Philip's new house in the neighborhood (except when Chilli, who was being walked on the leash by Norah, saw a squirrel, took off running, and pulled Norah face down...dirt in her mouth and everything)
- A visit from Mimi and Papa
- Eating popcorn and watching the football game
- Playing at the park
- Soccer in the backyard with Daddy
- The play dough cake making station

"Thank You"

With the exception of a random tantrum, Norah is pretty polite. She frequently repeats "Thank you" after us, and recently started saying it when we simply ask, "What do you say?"

This video is a few weeks old, but it definitely captures her saying it.

P.S. As a follow up to my previous post, Norah is awake and crying. Sigh...

A New Chapter in Feeding

I was telling mom yesterday I was impressed that Seth's mom reported that at Norah's age (actually earlier), he was adept at using a spoon. We have been giving her a bowl, spoon and cheerios to play with, but based on what I've seen I didn't think she was ready.

One thing led to another and this video shows what she was doing not 5 minutes after our conversation. I think this is one stage Seth has not been looking forward to. Feeding times have been relatively clean so far, but I have a feeling that is all going to change...

A Few Minutes for Mommy

It feels like a rare occasion that I find myself with a few minutes to myself to do whatever I want. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.

Two weekends ago I woke up soon after 6AM and decided to get up while Seth and Norah were still sleeping. What got me out of bed was the idea of catching a few minutes in the recliner with coffee and my book (I just started the second book in the Twilight series and I'm hooked.)

I got up, brushed my teeth, got dressed and made some coffee. I then prepared my coffee, set it on the table beside the chair, and grabbed a blanket. I was in the process of sitting down (literally in squat position) when I heard Norah stirring. I didn't even finish sitting.

Last weekeend, repeat that scenario but it worked out in my favor. I sat in the chair with coffee and my book for a whole 45 minutes before anyone was up. It was awesome!

This morning I am up early again, and am sitting in the chair with coffee and, this time, my computer. Oh, and Chili (Lisa and Scott's dog) is curled up in my lap. He's so cuddly.

I have no major news on our end, which I suppose can be viewed as a good thing. You might be wondering about an update to my "Tantrums or Teeth?" post. I'm not sure I really know the answer, although I have a feeling it is a bit of both.

I really do feel that Norah has been affected by her teeth. Meal time continues to be a bit of a struggle, which obviously could be related. She gives us the sign for "hungry", but then refuses to get into her chair. We often have to entice her into her chair by putting food on her tray and showing it to her. When that doesn't work we put a bowl of cheerios and a spoon on her tray (a new favorite pasttime).

The other food-related issue we are having these days is what appears to be somewhat picky behavior. I started feeling like a bit of a short order cook, continuing to put things on her tray to see if she would eat them. And I'm talking things she has eaten before, not necessarily something new. We are trying to find a balance between getting something in her tummy and making sure she is eating somewhat balanced meals. We try telling her she needs to eat some fruit before she can have more pancake, for example, but we're not sure she quite gets the concept yet and then have to figure out what to do when she doesn't eat the fruit but keeps doing the sign for "more." And the frustrating thing is that her teachers continuously tell me how she eats everything they put in front of her.

On the tantrums side, well, I guess we'll know sometime in the future whether her behavior really fits into that category. What I can say for sure is that she knows what she wants and often isn't happy when things don't go her way. We are constantly trying to prevent these situations by distracting her attention or thinking ahead about ways to entice her to do what we need her to do.

For example, she loves to play outside. Sometimes when we are downstairs she pounds on the front door and we can't get her to go upstairs. We can get her to go up on her own (avoiding a tantrum-like situation) by asking where her lion is, and whether she can go find him.

Yes, I am aware that this tactic likely won't last for long, but I'll use it while I can.

Having said all that we are generally doing great. I feel like our household is in a groove and plan to enjoy it until the next thing comes along to change everything.

Well, the little Peanut is stirring, so I guess I'll wrap up and take a few more sips of coffee before heading down to get her up.

What's for Dinner?

Food is an ongoing challenge. I am exhausted with trying to keep up with food for Norah as well as me and Seth. I need to say up front that Seth does a good amount of cooking, too, but I definitely take responsibility for planning and making Norah's food. Due to the fact that she still only has two bottom front teeth, and that I don't love our daycare's approach to food, I am still providing all of her meals every day.

When thinking about Norah's diet, here are some of the things I consider:

- Our desire to introduce her to a variety of flavors and textures

- Organic versus non-organic: we buy organic where it makes sense in terms of cost, convenience, and health (foods with the highest amount of pesticides)

- Providing a variety of food within a given day

- Food she can feed herself versus food that she is spoon fed (we prefer the former)

I have been putting more effort into finding dishes that we can all eat. Last weekend I made a baked lentil dish. Norah hasn't seemed to love it at home, but I've sent it to daycare twice and she ate almost all of it both times. I also made wheat pasta (that Norah can feed herself) with tomatoes, basil, garlic and fresh parmesan cheese. She doesn't dig the tomatoes, but she likes the pasta with the flavors of the sauce.

Neither dish was amazing, but the point is I made two things that we have all been eating this week. Unfortunately the recipes weren't for large quantities so we are getting low already, but that's an easy fix for next time.

I can be pretty sneaky when I need to. I have been trying to get Norah to eat tofu since she doesn't get a lot of protein from meat (again, just two lonely bottom front teeth). She has eaten it here and there, but lately either turns up her nose or squeezes it as hard as she can in her hand. Nothing seems to land in her mouth. But oh, let me tell you something - she is still eating that tofu whether she likes it or not! I pureed it with plain, whole milk organic yogurt and am mixing it in everything. She seems to particularly like it with pureed blackberries and applesauce. I was also added a bit to a lentils, sweet potatoes and applesauce mixture.

I know some of this probably sounds gross, but a good piece of advice I read in an baby cookbook was to put conventional thoughts about food combinations aside. I think there is some truth to that. Her teacher told me today that she had to mix the lentil/sweet potato/tofu/yogurt/applesauce with the yogurt/tofu/blackberry/applesauce to get her to eat anything. But it worked!

One of Norah's new favorite dishes is baked oatmeal. She literally gets giddy when she sees us pull the ziplock bag out of the fridge. My recipe uses applesauce and while it calls for sugar I don't use any, so it is quite healthy. Eat it up, Norah!

Baked Oatmeal

3 c oatmeal (I use 100% whole grain)

1/2 - 1 c brown sugar (I omit this)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 - 1 c raisins or blueberries (I sometimes use craisins, but otherwise omit)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet in another. Mix together. Add raisins/bueberries/craisins. Spread in a 9x9 pan, lightly greased. Bake 20-30 minutes (I have found it to take less).

Meanwhile, the search for more family friendly recipes continues...

Little Mama's Plate

One of our local favorites serves something called "Mama's Plate" for breakfast, which a friend of ours once accidentally called "Big Mama's Plate" when putting in his order. This morning Norah had her own version of this sizable dish, which we will call Little Mama's Plate, including pancake, an egg and banana.

Once her tray was empty she topped things off with a bowl of banana, yogurt and oatmeal.

P.S. These pictures were taken with a new trick that Seth discovered. To soften the flash, you hold a tortilla chip in front of the flash (yes, you read that correctly). It eliminates the harsh shadows in low light situations. Evidently you can get the same effect using an empty glass beer bottle, although we have not experimented with that yet. We're thinking someone had a pretty fun Super Bowl party. Pretty cool, eh?

Norah's New Favorite Meal

I tried a new fall recipe with Norah a few weeks ago and she loves it. I made more tonight for the next few weeks. It is healthy, easy, and she can feed it to herself. For you Mennos out there it is in the Simply in Season cookbook, and is yummy for adults, too.

Baked Squash and Apples

2 lbs butternut squash (peeled, seeded and cubed)

2-3 baking apples (peeled and cubed)

Combine squash and apples in baking dish.

1/3 cup brown sugar (I use less)

3 T butter (I use about 2 and add a bit of water)

1 T flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground mace (this is optional, which is fantastic since I am not familiar with it; I use cinnamon instead)

Melt butter and combine with remaining ingredients. Pour over squash and apples and stir. Cover and bake at 350 until squash is tender, 40-50 minutes. Voila!

Packed with Puffs

I need to stock up on puffs. They are a life saver.

I am still struggling with Norah being fussy on our car rides to and from daycare. I figure it is one of three things (or a combination) - tired, hungry, bored.

Tired - can't do anything differently. I leave work right at 5PM and get Norah in bed as quickly as humanly possible. As for the morning, she wakes up when she wakes up. We tip toe around the house and are definitely not quick to get her up. In fact, we leave her in her crib until it is very obvious she won't be going back to sleep, which us typically around 7AM. We often hear her much earlier, though, but I assume she doses on and off. So then of course we have the naps. In the "I napped from" box on her daily report from Monday it read "10:00 - 10:35" in the morning slot and "NO NAP" in the afternoon slot.

This has been a trend again this week. Perhaps her light naps are also causing her to wake up a bit earlier than usual in the morning - I've read it is all connected (sleep begets more sleep). Problem is, there is really nothing I can do about it.

Moving on.

Hungry - I have started wondering whether Norah is hungry on the way to daycare. She nurses first thing in the morning, and then eats solids as soon as she gets to daycare. Yesterday morning as we were buzzing around the kitchen she sat on her knees on the floor fussing. I put a few puffs in front of her (yes, directly on the floor), and she at them right up. I knew it wouldn't really give her substance, but was going for the entertainment factor. It made me think (not for the first time) that maybe we should feed her solids before we go to daycare to see if that helps. We will definitely be trying that.

Bored - here is where the puffs come in. They have proven to be a great form of entertainment. We have the snack catchers, which are awesome. Sure, we still usually find a bunch of puffs in her carseat, but I can't imagine what it would be like with an open container. I have started making sure I have two snack catchers and puffs with me every morning. I try to provide other forms of entertainment, too, like singing. But if that doesn't work and she drops anything I give her over the side of her carseat then there is nothing more for me to do.

As much as I would like there to be a simple answer I'm sure it is a combination of these things with a little teething thrown in here and there. So, I've been trying to focus on what we can affect. Sleep? Unfortunately no. Hunger? Yep, and we'll start trying feeding her in the mornings. Bored? Somewhat, but limited. No matter what, I am positive I won't be leaving home without the puffs anytime soon.

Little Tidbits

So in the midst of...well, everything, I guess... I have failed to note a few events.

The first, is a visit from my cousin Andrea, her husband Jon and daughter Allysen who recently moved to College Station, TX. Allysen is 6 and was very interested in her first cousin once removed, Norah. They had fun.

We're happy they live so close now and look forward to seeing them more. For much of our childhood Andrea and her sister Renetta lived just a block away, so we spent a lot of time together. Andrea was also one of our babysitters. We always looked forward to her babysitting because we knew we were going to bake a chocolate something (usually a cake, but you never knew what would be thrown in).

Anyway, it will be fun to be able to see them so much more often now (considering before it was a very rare occurence). We were all at the lake together (with Li, Scott and the boys) over Labor Day, which was really fun too...although I have no pictures.

Last weekend we met friends Lisa and Dave for lunch at Rudy's BBQ. They recently had sweet little Tyce, so with the two little ones our social time together has changed. Back in the pre-kid days we would do The Woodlands one get together, and "downtown" the next. The evenings typically involved an appetizer at the house (brought by the visitors), dinner and dessert out. Once Seth and I had Norah, Dave and Lisa came our way more frequently and we often cooked or got carryout. Now...well, we're playing it by ear, but we're definitely finding ways to still get together, and will continue to do so.

ANYWAY, here is a picture of Lisa and I with the kiddos. Isn't Tyce's little face just precious? He's not always that serious, even at his young age.

The last thing I thought I would throw in tonight is a photo of Norah's tooth. It's not a very attractive photo of Norah (some may call me a brave mama for including it anyway), but it is the first clear shot of her tooth. I've even cropped it so you can see the tooth. (Note, she is fussing because I told to stop eating the mulch.)

Anyway, she was a bit out of sorts yesterday, meaning not napping well and a little fussier than usual. Actually, "out of sorts" also means frequently performing her new "tantrum" act, which consists of dramatically throwing her head onto the floor. I noticed today that she is cutting her second tooth, so we're assuming that is why. Today she was back to normal, had 2 great naps (both about 1 1/2 hours) and only one or two "tantrums."

So, it's Sunday night and we've spent most of the day around the house getting things in order for another week. Here we go!

That's It??

When people ask about making Norah's food (as opposed to buying jarred food) I find myself saying, "It's really not that bad." As she has gotten older and requires more food, however, I have to admit it is a little high maintenance.

Last Friday I spent several hours in the kitchen. I can't say I know exactly how much time was spent specifically on Norah's food because I was doing several things at once, but let's just say quite a bit. In the end, this is what I had:



I know! What a pitiful amount for so much work. At least that's how I felt last Friday. I MIGHT have enough for close to two more weeks , but that's just of the veggies. I tend to do fruit along the way, depending on what we find fresh each week.

And even though I have all of this frozen, it still requires more prep for daycare. Once defrosted, I make 5 bowls for each day - 1 for breakfast, 2 for lunch and 2 for...I don't know, I guess we'll call it an afternoon snack. By "making" I mean defrosting and mixing with rice cereal to get it to the right consistency. (Side note: I also prepare 3 bottles, totaling 16 ounces, every day for daycare .)

I'm sure it sounds like I am complaining, and maybe I am just a wee bit. But in the end, I feel good about knowing exactly what is in the food Norah eats and that makes all of the hard work worth it. Besides, I figure I don't have much time left of this - little by little Norah will get closer to eating what we eat. Earlier this week I soaked black beans and cooked them with carrots and celery. I also cooked spaghetti squash. So all of that is waiting for pureeing, mixing and freezing.

By the way, what you see in the picture are several combinations of lentils, chicken, spinach, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes and applesauce. I have two books to help when I'm not feeling creative: Top 100 Baby Purees and The Everything Organic Cooking for Baby & Toddler Book. I don't really follow the recipes, but it is helpful to get new ideas of what to combine. I didn't label anything because it's not a huge deal to me - I just try to make sure she has at least one orange and one green each day and see what else is "in stock."

The daycare teachers still laugh at how serious Norah is about food. Just this morning one teacher told me that when Norah wakes up from her afternoon nap and spies her bowls of food on the counter she gets very excited and has a one track mind. This evening, the other teacher told me that a "floater" who was helping this afternoon saw the two full bowls on the counter ready for Norah and asked, "Will she really eat all of this?" When Ms. Wanda said, "Yes" the floater still didn't believe her...until Norah ate every bite.

The teachers also joke about not having a clue what Norah is eating. On her daily report they simply write, "Food from home" because they don't know what they are feeding her. The funny thing is that I don't always know either.

Mmmm...Sweet Potato

We have continued giving Norah solids ever since Easter Sunday. Instead of the sour puss face that we got the first several times, she now goes toward the spoon and sticks out her tongue. It is hard to get the food in her mouth above her tongue, but we manage to find a way and she typically eats several tablespoons at a time, sometimes more.

Yesterday we tried giving her chunks of soft sweet potato to let her play with it a bit and see if she would put it in her mouth. I have no idea why, when everything else goes straight to her mouth, but she really didn't go there with the sweet potato. She played with it in her hands, but never really put much in her mouth. We put a few small pieces in for her, but she didn't seem to like it. We figure it is a consistency thing because as soon as we mashed it up and mixed it with a little rice cereal and breast milk she ate it right down.

Was That a Lime?

Last Sunday when the family was together we decided it would be fun to try giving Norah a little rice cereal. When the first little bit was put into her mouth, she didn't know what to think. By the look on her face, you would have thought we gave her a lime. But, she seemed to figure out what to do with it, and ate a few tablespoons.

It looks like she is crying in this one, but that is actually just the look she had on her face.

Never Fail Pie Crust

Believe it or not I will occasionally post entries on topics other than Norah. Today, I am sharing a "Never Fail" pie crust recipe from my grandma Garber. It is really easy and tastes great. The main difference is it is made with olive oil instead of crisco. Enjoy!

Never Fail Pie Crust
1 2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt

Mix these ingredients together. Add 3 T water and make it into a soft ball. (My grandma would say to skip the spoon for this step and just get your hands right in there.) Roll out between wax paper and put in pie pan.

Crumbs for top of pie (if desired)
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour