Small Victories

 We've had a bit of a victory in our house the last two nights: Ben has gone all night without eating!  He still gets up around 3 or so, but after I put his pacifier back in, he has gone back to sleep and not needed to eat!!  Hip-hip-hooray!!  Last night I got 5 hours of sleep all in a row, and 6 total.  I almost didn't recognize myself in the mirror this morning (except for the bedhead, that I did recognize).  It is amazing how much easier it is to start the day when you feel like you have actually slept!  I might just take on the world today! :)

One of my projects today is to make some more baby food.  Ben is cruising through anything I give him and it has been so much fun to introduce new foods to him.  I finally sat down a couple days ago to read through all the details in this baby food book I have and ended up spiraling down into the Overwhelmed Failure Mommy Pit.  This book was quite intense and John came home to me with my head in my hands, trying to wrap my brain around all the specific food combinations that I am supposed to be introducing to Ben with perfect matching of proteins and whole grains in order to have optimal absorption of vitamins and nutrients and the proper preparation of each meal in the right proportions and ingredients so that he doesn't develop anemia and vitamin deficiencies.  I told him I was pretty sure I had already botched it all and Ben was going to grow up to have health disorders and be fat and dumb.  All this time I thought introducing baby food was just putting applesauce on a spoon and getting it to stay inside his mouth.  Oh no, it is a full time job with qualifications that some astro-physicists may not even qualify for.  So after that reaction, John promptly told me to burn the book, or at least put it away from sight (what a wise man I married!) and read some other resources to get a bit more balance.  Later that night, after reading another book and some information from babycenter.com (LOVE that website--such a great resource for balanced information on ANY topic), I was re-encouraged and back to smiling and looking forward to making baby food again.

I actually read an article that got me excited to try some new and different things with Ben.  It was talking about how breastfed babies are exposed to all kinds of flavors and spices in breastmilk, and that starting them on food with bland boring mush is really a step back.  Babies in other countries have flavor packed baby food with spices and herbs that are common to their cultures, so why do U.S. babies have to be boring and eat plain porridge?  And we wonder why some kids become such picky eaters and don't want any extra flavor, sauce, herbs, etc in their meals as toddlers.  Could it be because they didn't have it in their baby food and it is just too strange for them?  Could it be that if baby food was introduced with spices and flavorful combinations that their palate would be wide open to new experiences?  As long as salt is not used, a select few foods are avoided til age 1, and new foods are introduced slowly to be able to identify any allergies, there are very few limits on what a baby can taste!  So, armed with this insight, I am kicking things up a notch and planning on introducing Ben to a rainbow of flavors and spices.  There are just so many possibilities!  Chicken with cumin and cilantro, chickpeas with curry, roasted veggies with onions and garlic, apples and pears with cinnamon and cloves (which he tried yesterday and LOVED!), pumpkin with nutmeg and ginger.....chef Mommy is getting excited! :)

And hopefully someday Ben will want to help me make all these treats in the kitchen.  How I would love it if he would share my love of excellent food and all the creative possibilities!  He is off to a good start: he likes playing with the tools. :)  He loves holding my spatula or spoon as I cook, and has found that he especially enjoys sampling my whisk and basting brush.  How else can you determine a kitchen tool's worth but by tasting it? (and slobbering on it, throwing it on the ground to see what kind of sound it makes, chewing on it....oh, and banging in on the table.....very important process of evaluation :)

 

Ben the chef in training, helping me make pancakes

it is ALWAYS a good time to just kick up your feet and smile!

"yay, I am so excited!!!"

"I am not sure why I am so excited, but I have some stylin' white socks on and that is reason enough!"

his new favorite toy: the basting brush!

intense concentration...and a little cross-eyed action (makes you think better :)

"I'm not sure how you are supposed to use this thing, but this is workin' pretty well."