Sunday, January 31, 2010

Rutabaga

I made some rutabaga for D the other day. Never had it before, didn't know what it tasted like but looked up prep methods and baked it for her. I saw it mentioned on Top Chef or something like that so I thought I'd prepare some for D. She didn't like it.
It has the consistency of a potato but tastes like a turnip. Why would anybody like it?
Normally, I do not let D dictate her own likes and dislikes when it comes to food. She is not allowed to refuse broccoli, for instance, because broccoli is chock full of good stuff like iron. But when she turned down the rutabaga, I was fine with it. Meh, who needs rutabaga? It doesn't have any outstanding qualities, vitamins/minerals that she would ever be lacking.
Of course, I am not one to waste food so I will just grind that sucker up with spinach and serve it to her with pasta tomorrow. We'll see how intense her taste buds are and if she will be able to distinguish that taste from the spinach. She loves spinach. :o)

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Down to one nap?

I'm not quite sure what is going on right now with D, but yesterday, she would not go down for a second nap so I took her out to Mom's Game Day. She was fine. She got a little needy and cranky later in the evening when I was making her dinner and wanted to be held as opposed to sitting in her chair, but then was fine again when I was feeding her. That is amaaazing. She was up from 11am until a little after 7pm. WHAA??!! The girl is nuts.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

A little discipline...or not

Dillon was playing in the bathroom the other day and was opening the drawer which sits a little above her head. She could easily get her fingers caught if she closed the drawer so I was telling her, "No. Be careful." And I would hold the drawer closed so she wouldn't open it. She would comply but then as I would step away, she would reach for the drawer again and again I would say, "No." This, of course became a game and she thought it was hilarious that I kept saying no and would head toward the drawer as she reached for it.
Umm..possibly not the best form of disciplining here...
And now, when we feed her, she thinks it's funny to throw food over the side of her high chair - Not good. And of course, when we say, "NO!" in our very firm manner, she laughs and thinks it's a game. I was shocked when she actually took a handful of spaghetti squash (sauce and all) and flung it against the wall. Hello? Dillon? That's not very nice. Hmmm...how do we cure our little D of this poor behavior? Not sure, but if we ever figure it out, I'll be sure to share.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

2009 Playgroup

We just hosted our 2009 Playgroup at our house today! Dillon was an awesome host. One of the mommies commented on how Dillon is so good at sharing her toys. Yeay!
When the babies first started to arrive, I was just starting to feed D her lunch. But clearly, her mind was on playing so I put her down and she played and showed her toys to Jenn Carter Ammons who had come over to meet the mommies and see how the playgroups are like in consideration for her pending baby.
Later on, D seemed like she was hungry so I pulled her high chair over to the play area and fed her there. She was perfectly content to sit in her high chair, feeding herself cheese and sweet potato while I fed her a yummy concoction of mashed up meatballs in tomato sauce and some bok choy!
Oh! And it was interesting to see how D was very interested in the babies that were a bit younger than she is. I wasn't there to see it, but another mom reported that D got down on all fours and put her head gently up to the baby's head (her son) and also when he dropped the stick he was playing with, she picked it up and handed it back to him! Impressive.
I did see her petting another baby's head ever so gently. Was really cute. But then when there was a boy around roughly her same age (he might be 9 months right now), sitting next to her and she was standing, she banged his head instead of stroking it gently. Isn't that weird? It's like she knew he was older and was a bit hardier. At least I think so?

Crack

It's funny to me how I will eat just about anything. I eat crack, dude. When asked what my last meal on earth would be, I replied, "Two cheeseburger meal at McDonald's...however, that could change to a Filet-O-Fish meal depending on my mood."
My favorite snack is Cheese PUFFS! Golden, puffy, artificial cheesy powder goodness.
But when it comes to Dillon, we feed her the best. We try to go organic, no salt, no added sugar. I am even a little bit concerned about how much sugar she is currently consuming from the fruits she eats. Eeks!
There are occasions when I do like to share whatever I am eating with Dillon (since she always seems so interested) so there have been times where I have fed her a corner of my yummy McD's hamburger bun...
But those times are few and far between as her father is always VERY quick to put the smack down on that. He once even reprimanded me for putting salted butter on her toast as opposed to unsalted. Whoops! Sorrry...I truly prefer salted butter to non-salted, thank you very much!

Monday, January 11, 2010

I give D an "A" for intelligence!

Today, D was happily pushing her Radio Flyer around. Still trying to master the walking and balancing thing. Usually, when she comes upon the wall or a sofa or anything that stops her movement, she continues to push her RF against the obstructing object while yelling to let us know that she needs help.
She was doing that today in the kitchen when she got stopped up against the cabinet. However, since I wasn't able to help her because I was doing the dishes, she yelled a bit more and then decided to take matters into her own hands. :oD
After a couple minutes, I then start hearing the wheels of the flyer moving again. I turned around to find that D had taken her little self and marched to the side of the flyer and started walking it back the way she had come! So, instead of pushing the flyer from the front/handle part, she is now pushing it from the side with one hand on the side bar and the other hand on the back part of the handle!! Oh, she certainly is genius!!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Gloi, gloi..

Dillon has added a new word (sound) to her repetoire - Gloi. She says that every so often. It is so funny. If I make that sound, she will mimic me.
It's truly fascinating to me how babies literally teach themselves. I mean, I can see her little gears turning in her head as she tries to process how all things are done. She is curious beyond belief!
Today, she has been so diligent about her walking. She went back and forth on her Radio Flyer, probably 30 times! Usually, she will make her laps a few times and then just tire of it and start crawling or move onto a different task. Nope, today, she was determined.
And alas! This evening while I was preparing dinner, D stood on her very own! I mean, I have seen her balance while holding onto a chair or table and then take her hand off to work on her balance. But, tonight, she literally stood up from sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor! Amazing! We clapped for her and told her, "Good job!!" She was so proud.
She also learned how to drink from a sippy cup with a straw! That's pretty phenomenal too in my book! I've been waiting and waiting for her to move past her bottle stage since whenever she turns the bottle over on its head, the milk drips out! Meeesssssy. So, we'll see if she remembers this feat by tomorrow. Sometimes she forgets. Like, she drank an entire 5 oz of formula from her Born Free sippy cup ONCE. And then never did it again. Did not know how it works and then chewed a hole in the top so it wasn't keeping liquids back anymore. Go figure...

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Just a thought

As I was lying on the couch the other day while playing with D, she toddled over and looked at me and then screamed to get up on the couch. (As that is her only way of communicating right now).
I find it is so cute that she can now (kind of) communicate what she wants and I looked at G and said, "Y'know, if babies were born at this age. Out of the womb and able to somewhat communicate and be interactive, the incidence of maternal depression was be so much lower..."
Heheh.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

It's all about the avo...

Yes, D has her food issues. You know how they say, "Eat with your child so she feels like part of the family.." No, not in this family, apparently. We can't eat with Dillon or she will not eat her food and only want ours. She is adamant. Turning her head defiantly away from her food/the spoon and pointing at whatever we are eating. It doesn't matter if I just fed her a bit of my food and she can't chew it and ends up spitting it out. She still wants that food.
Additionally, she doesn't want anything that is not the perfect consistency or isn't her fruit. Oh, she loves the fruit but I'm pretty sure it's for the sugar since she never minds that the fruit is pureed. She happily sucks it down.
At one point, G said, "well since you tend to mix everything up anyway, why not just mix up her food with the fruit." Um, no. That would just allow her to want everything she eats to be sweet. We can't have that.
Child...you will eat what I have prepared for you...if she were older, I could make her understand. But she's just a wee baby and trying to exercise her right to make decisions. No thanks. So, since she will always eat avocado, I do try to have that handy at all meals so if all else fails, I can mask everything with avocado. God forbid if she ever tires of avo. Thank goodness avos aren't like carrots where if you eat too much you turn orange. I would have a slightly green tinted daughter.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

What th-...

What is going one here? D was such a great eater for a while. Now that she has determined she does not want to eat pureed food, she is still being quite finicky about the actual solids that we do put into her mouth. If she doesn't like the consistency, she will just spit it right out. What gives?
I mean, nothing seems to appease her...unless it comes from our plate. However, we are not eating just mushy foods so sadly, she cannot just eat off our plates. I tried to feed her some prime rib tonight. She did not spit it out outright, but she did "chew" on it for a bit and then spit it out because obviously she couldn't break it down.
However, I am also noticing that this kind of really is a battle of the wills (there it is again...that battling...) because sometimes she will spit out and I will put it right back in her mouth and then she does eat it. It's not because she doesn't like it, but rather maybe because she is testing the waters to see how far she can push things. Well, missy. I can tell you right now she doesn't get to push too far with me. I have all the time in the world to just pick up what she just spit out and feed it right back to her. Whyyyyyy does this baby thing have to be so challenging all the time? What th-...