Toddler Food Quest: Day 3

Okay.... For me, one of the situations that will always derail my good eating habits and intentions is... lack of sleep.  I reach for comfort food, whenever and whatever I can get, all day long.  And Little Guy had little sleep as well.  He woke at 4:50am and wouldn't go back to sleep.  So he was cranky and I was exhausted.  This morning became the morning of snacking :(

Today's Meals

Breakfast:  8oz milk, 1/2 banana

Lunch: (all throughout the morning)
Raisins, grapes, 2 carrot/pea/pear food pouches, bread.  The shinig point of the morning was him eating a chunk of extra sharp cheddar cheese.  He was suspicious at first and spit it out, but after a few minutes of looking at it and considering it - he plunked it back in his mouth and ate it.

Snack:
(offered)  Cheese toast, grapes, milk
(ate) Cheese toast, grapes, milk

Dinner:
(offered) American cheese, peaches, crackers, yogurt, straight carrot puree
(ate) Ate all of the above plus veggie straws.  We offered him a little pizza but he prefers his cold.

Adults' Dinner: Bake at home pizza, just a quickie-dinner night

Toddler Food Quest: Day 2

I consider yesterday a success.  He seems to be more receptive to new foods at dinner-time for some reason.  He just took a bite or two of carrot during the day but finished off the rest of the bowl of carrot/apple puree at dinner.  Today we increase the ratio of carrot to applesauce (70/30) and see if he still eats it.


Today's Meals

Breakfast:  8oz milk, about 1/3 of his oatmeal with mandarin oranges

Lunch:
(offered) 2 strawberry/oatmeal mini-muffins, 4oz yogurt, 70/30 carrot/apple puree, water
(ate) 1 strawberry/oatmeal mini-muffins, 3oz yogurt, a few bites of 70/30 carrot/apple puree, water

(He knew that the carrot taste was new.  He paused and focused on it after each bite.  He wouldn't take more than one bite in a row, but I got some in between bites of yogurt.)

Snack:
(offered) Apple Scone and milk
(ate) Apple Scone and milk
After nap we went to a local coffee shop that has a children's play area, so we shared part of a scone and played.

Dinner:
(offered) Peanut butter & jelly toast, plain pasta, American cheese, grapes, 70/30 carrot/apple puree
(ate) Peanut butter & jelly toast (just a taste), American cheese, grapes, veggie straws, 70/30 carrot/apple puree (finished it up!)

Adults' Dinner:  Pasta with tomatoes and sausage

Recipe: Strawberry Oatmeal Mini-Muffins

Strawberry Oatmeal Mini-Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cups quick cooking oatmeal
1/3 cup sugar
1 heaping Tbsp brown sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup chopped fresh strawberries

Steps:
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 36 miniature muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, brown sugar,baking powder and salt; mix well.
2
In small bowl, combine milk, oil and egg; blend well. Add to flour mixture; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Gently stir in strawberries. Spoon rounded teaspoons of batter into each sprayed muffin cup.

3. Bake at 375°F. for approximately 12 minutes, or until edges are very light golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 3 minutes; remove from pan and cool on a rack.

Toddler Food Quest: Day 1

This week's food focus is carrots.  The research I've done states that you should get your child used to the flavor, then provide the food in a more natural state.  This means, starting with a puree mixed with something familiar.  Change the ratio until the puree is all the target food.  Then make the puree chunkier until he's eating just chunks of the food when placed on his plate.  That is my plan.

Yesterday, as a quick experiment, I boiled some carrots with a bit of honey in the water.  I let them cool and pureed them.  At dinner time I mixed in applesauce for a 50/50 ratio, and he did accepts bites of this with his meal. Really, it just tasted like applesauce, but he was taking bites of orange colored food. He wouldn't take it at first, but I he would take some in between bites of his other foods.  It's a start.

Today's Meals

Breakfast:  8oz milk, 3/4 banana

Lunch:
(offered) Peanut Butter & Jelly toast, grapes, mandarin oranges, 50/50 carrot/applesauce puree (flat out refused puree)
(ate) 7 grapes, 1 Ritz cracker, 2 strawberry oatmeal mini-muffins, water

Snack:
(offered) Peanut Butter & Jelly toast, mandarin oranges, 50/50 carrot/applesauce puree
(ate) Peanut Butter & Jelly toast, few bites yogurt, few bites carrot puree, 1 strawberry mini-muffin, milk

Dinner:
(offered) American cheese, crackers, strawberries, 50/50 carrot/applesauce puree
(ate) American cheese, crackers, strawberries, 50/50 carrot/applesauce puree (all of it!), plus veggie straws

Adults' Dinner:  Curried Beef, Peas, Potatoes & Rice  (offered some to LG but no way...)

Toddler Food Quest

It seems that as Little Guy gets older we go through "project" phases.  Project Eat Finger Food, Project Fall Asleep Unassisted, Project Get Rid of Bottles (not yet complete) are just a few recent ones.  Unfortunately, even with parents who love a variety of foods, Little Guy only wants to eat a very select bunch of foods (and even some of these selectively): milk, crackers, American Cheese slices, yogurt, oatmeal, fruits, toast, peanut butter, veggie straws, dried fruit... some baked goods, some egg...   that's about it. No potato, pasta, beans, meats, rice, vegetables of any sort (unless it's the pureed food pouches), or pretty much anything else.  It's frustrating.  I made mini strawberry muffins today thinking he'd love them, because he loved a blueberry muffin a few days ago - he wouldn't touch them.

I've recently read "Bringing up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting," by Pamela Druckerman, and I'm currently reading "French Kids Eat Everything: How Our Family Moved to France, Cured Picky Eating, Banned Snacking, and Discovered 10 Simple Rules for Raising Happy, Healthy Eaters," by Karen Le Billon.  Both focus, in part or in whole, about how French society raises children to truly enjoy all types of foods.  Now I am trying to implement some of their suggestions.

One key bit of advice is: The child may have to try something a dozen or more times before it becomes familiar and the child will start to accept it.  They suggest starting in simple forms, maybe a puree mixed with something they like, then slowly change the ratio until they are eating all of the food item.  Then make it chunkier until it becomes an accepted finger food (or spoon food if the child can spoon feed him/herself).

Another key bit of advice is:  No snacking between meals.  This is more difficult for Mommy than child.  I snack all day long, and we used to let Little Guy graze throughout the day for fear that he just wouldn't eat enough during mealtimes and be hungry during the night.  Well, that was a needless worry, because when he's hungry he'll eat plenty (only of a few foods, but he eats enough) and has never woken up hungry.

Toddler Food Quest has begun!  This week the mission is Carrots.  I figure it's sweet enough and he seems to like orange foods, so it's a wise beginning.

Finished Project: Pinwheel Sweater

Honestly, I wish I were knitting alot more than I am, but so many things keep competing for my focus during the last few months of my pregnancy.  Since Little Guy sleeps well through the night and can entertain himself pretty well during the day, I can do activities that I wasn't during his first year.  Cooking, reading, playing some video games with my husband, catching up on some TV shows - all of that was pretty much abandoned during LG's first year, because it was hard to get interrupted.  With knitting, I worked on simple, out-down-at-any-moment projects during the day and more complex stuff at night.  I'm pretty sure when #2 arrives that I'll be back to knitting while the other activities go into hibernation.

One project I finished in the Fall was the Pinwheel Sweater for a friend's little girl.  Even though knitting was aggravating my morning sickness, her birthday was in early October and I was determined to finish it.  It was a fun project that may have gone faster if I didn't work on it around so many other projects.

Baby Blanket on the Needles

One of my closest friends is also having her second child in February - a little girl as well!  Now that I'm finally back to knitting (even if it is slower than before), I really, really wanted to make her a baby blanket.  She's due in mid-February so I need to get on it quick!

I chose a type of yarn I've never worked with before... Super Bulky.  This yarn is huge! It's like a piece of rope.  I wanted to get a pink color, but I swear everyone in a 100 mile radius is having a girl because every store seems to be out of bulky pinks.  I did run across this super pink/purple awesome color I think she'll love.  It's Lion Brand Hometown USA in "Denver Rocky Mountain" color.  (Is that supposed to mean the color of the sunsets on the Rocky Mountains?)

I'm going to learn cabling and do a simple cabled baby blanket, and with the Super Bulky yarn I hope to finish it by the end of the month.

P.S. Knitting with Super Bulky is some real work, and cabling - wow, this feels like wrestling a beast!