Mealtime Madness, Part 3

As if PK's rejection of food and bottle weren't bad enough, I've also had to deal with a new meal-time development: fidgeting in her high chair.

When PK's not eating, she wreaks havoc in her high chair. I have a glass-top round table in my kitchen, and in order to keep the glass from scratching, I have a tablecloth on top of it. The tablecloth is nice and used to belong to my grandmother, so I have a placemat in front of PK's high chair, in case I spill food in that area. First of all, PK can't sit still in her high chair once a meal is done. She needs to play. So I usually give her a bunch of toys that I attach to her high chair so that she can amuse herself while I eat. I guess she's bored with her toys now, because she has decided that her placemat is the coolest toy ever. And she'll go through great lengths to get to it. She has learned to reach over and tug on the tablecloth in order to get to her placemat. This makes me very nervous, because I've usually either got a glass of juice on that table and/or her glass bottle with formula. Not good. Not only that, she has also learned how to stand on the footrest of her high chair. I think I'm going to have to start using the high chair seatbelt again. I'd stopped using it so that I could pull her out of the chair more quickly in case she was choking.

Once I take away all of the things that she likes PK throws a little tantrum. I have to eventually put her in her pack-and-play in the living room, so that she has more room to play. If you're wondering why I don't bring this into the kitchen, it's because I have to go up 5 steps to get to my kitchen from the living room, and I use the pack-and-play to plop her down before we go out.

I suppose that all this fidgetiness is actually a good thing. It means that PK is active and healthy and doesn't want to be tied down for long periods of time (you can imagine that if she's this fidgety in her high chair, she's even WORSE in her stroller). It just means that I'm absolutely POOPED at the end of the day...

This week, mealtimes have gotten a bit better again, though they haven't been fuss-free. I still have to sometimes sing to her to get her to open her mouth. Getting PK to take her bottle is still a challenge, but I've adapted and am now making sure that I either give her a bottle about an hour before lunch or dinner, or just give her a smaller bottle with her meals (I know it doesn't quite add up, but it seems to work).

The only thing I can think of that is making her so fussy about eating is that maybe there's another tooth coming in. She's had the occasional rosy cheeks and drool. Last week, I even found her to be a bit warmer than usual (though no fever). I've been poking my finger in her mouth almost daily to look for signs of a new tooth, but I haven't seen one so far. Poking my finger into PK's mouth has become increasingly challenging these days, since she likes to chomp down on my finger. One time, she even drew blood near my cuticle.

Mealtime Madness, Part 2

In our first instalment, we covered how PK was driving mommy mad with eating her food. In this instalment, we will cover how PK is driving mommy mad during ingestion of liquids.

First off, formula has fallen off its pedestal. While I can usually get her to finish her morning bottle and before-bed bottle (both smaller than they used to be), I do have trouble getting her to take her lunch and dinner bottles. Before, she'd finish a bottle plus a large meal (veggie purée, fruit, yogurt). Now, if I feed her a bottle to close to lunch or dinner, she won't eat well. Or, if I give her her lunch or dinner before her bottle, she'll take maybe 80ml out of a 160ml bottle.

It's good that she isn't so much into her bottle - it means that she's getting into the groove of this eating thing. Her bottles used to be meal replacements, so I'm guessing that she's not into her lunch and dinner bottles because lunch and dinner themselves are pretty filling. I am a bit concerned about her dislike for her bottle, however, because formula is pretty much the ONLY thing that she will drink. She does not drink water, and she does not drink juice. (As an aside, I tried to get her to drink water for weeks before I finally caved and tried the juice on her.) She doesn't like sippy cups (I have four different kinds), and she does not like drinking out of a straw (the pediatrician suggested that we try a straw). One sight of the sippy cup makes her push it away. She does, however, enjoy playing with it. Since I thought that the vessel was the problem for PK, I tried putting a small amount of juice in one of her bottles. I even tried covering up the juice so that she would think it was formula, thereby getting her to drink from the bottle. No dice. She really doesn't like the taste of this stuff. WTF???

Mealtime Madness, Part 1

Having children is like working with a moving target; just when you think you've got them figured out, they change the rules on you.

PK was overall a pretty good eater. Even when there was something she didn't really like, you could usually trick her by mixing it with something that she did like (e.g. mixing a veggie purée that she didn't like with some apple sauce). And sight of her bottle made her so excited that she started freaking out if we didn't get it to her quickly enough.

Then, last Friday, PK began to show some resistance with food. She did NOT want to eat her lunch. Thank goodness my mom was around to help out that day, because otherwise, I would've gone nuts. Every time we tried to feed her, she would block the spoon by rubbing her eyes, as if she was tired. Or she would grab the spoon and wave it around. Either way, she ended up with food all over her face, clothes, hair, and, of course, the high chair. We basically got her to eat by singing her favorite songs to her. When she both recognizes and likes a song, her face lights up, and, most importantly, her mouth opens. That was our chance to get food into her. Unfortunately, a few days later, this trick stopped working when she learned to smile with her mouth closed. Wiley little one, isn't she?

She's doing better on the food again, though I don't know for how much longer.

Adventures in Babywearing

Last weekend, we bought the Ergo Baby carrier. I already had a carrier - the Baby Trekker. It worked fine, and unlike the Ergo carrier, you can carry your baby facing forward AND backward. My only complaint besides its bulkiness, is that if you carry your baby facing forward (i.e. the world), the baby's legs dangle right in front of your thighs, making it difficult to walk very quickly. The other thing is that if you carry your baby facing backward (i.e. you), the baby is in an awkward suspended position which isn't very comfortable. I could only wear my Trekker in the forward-facing position with PK.

I'd say that 90% of my mommy friends have the Ergo, and have been really happy with it. It's definitely a nice carrier. The baby sits in the carrier with his/her legs wrapped around your waist. Just like when you carry the baby in your arms. It's much more comfortable both the baby and the person carrying the baby.

I was really excited to try the Ergo on PK. She didn't take to being carried until she was maybe 3 or 4 months old, and she only warmed up to it when I had her in her carrier while singing and dancing in her room (great workout, BTW). She was used to being forward-facing in the carrier, so I wondered if she'd take to the Ergo's rear-facing configuration.

The first day I tried the Ergo with, she was not in the mood to be carried, so that was a total dud. Ditto for the second day. The third day I tried it, I decided to do it up in her room with her music going. I sang and danced with her in the carrier, and her tolerance for it seemed to go up. Whew! These things aren't cheap, so I was glad that she wasn't having a meltdown in the carrier.

I took her out for a walk in the Ergo on Monday. It was a bit brisk outside, so I had to wear a bulkier jacket. Needless to say, I had a REALLY hard time getting the Ergo on. If you're unfamiliar with the Ergo, to carry your baby rear-facing, you put it on like a backpack in reverse. First, you put on the waist strap, then you put the baby in front of you (facing you), put the straps around your arms (like a backpack), and clip them together. Sounds easy, but it's really not, if you're new to this. I had a hell of a time getting the back clips on. Somehow I managed, and off we went. Our walk was short, and while PK didn't scream or anything (unlike the first couple of times I had her in the Ergo), she seemed to have this "What the hell are you doing to me?" look. That soon passed, and she ended up falling asleep while I walked. I think I should take this as a compliment - she's comfortable enough to relax and fall asleep...right?

Now the real purpose of this post is centered around today's happenings. It looked beautiful and sunny outside today (minus the wind, which seemed to have died down in the afternoon). I was itching to go out for a walk, but I had to wait for PK's nap before attempting to venture outside. When we finally did make it outside, it was 4:45pm. I needed to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things - ingredients for making PK's food next week. The grocery store trip took a bit longer than expected, and while PK was seeming to be quite tired, she was also getting restless in her stroller. It seems that these days, PK really really doesn't like being in her stroller for long periods of time, so I always take the carrier with me (before I got the Ergo, I always had the Trekker handy).

By the time we left the grocery store, PK was in a BAD mood. She was crying and whining, so I decided that this was a perfect opportunity to use the Ergo. Unfortunately, crying baby + bulky jacket (it was still a bit nippy outside) + newbie Ergo user = near-disaster. PK was freaking out, and I was desperately trying to get that back clip done up. The more PK cried, the more frustrated I got, and the more I kept sweating. It was a disaster. I was ready to give up, but then I finally got the damned clip done up, and she settled down within a few minutes. Whew! Just a tad stressful.

We were maybe a quarter of the way home when PK fell asleep. Because she was facing me, her head was falling back. The Ergo has this little sleep hood that you can pull out and attach to the "backpack" straps for this very purpose. What a perfect time to try it out. HA! So I had no problem in getting the hood out, but I sure as hell couldn't figure out where the damned things hooked in. So after trying for about 5 minutes, I gave up, pushing the stroller with one hand, and supporting PK's head with the other. I checked the manual when I got home and found out that the hood hooked into the D-rings on the backpack straps. I have no idea how I would even get to them, to be perfectly honest, because they seemed to be way far out of reach.

All in all, I do like the Ergo, but I think that I still have to get used to getting it on and off. As for that sleep hood, maybe if I grew longer arms...

Eight-month Checkup

I took PK to the doctor on Thursday for an 8-month checkup (no shots, thank goodness). While PK eats like there's no tomorrow (3 meals which consist of a 160-ml bottle and 2-3 large courses), she is just below 25th-percentile on weight, weighing in at 7.125kg (just under 17lbs). Her length is still in the 75th-percentile, at 70cm.

The pediatrician didn't seem to be concerned about PK's weight given that both the hubby and I are skinny. I guess that PK is just destined to be dainty, which is fine by me!

We talked about PK's diet, speech development (she started saying "da...da..." and "deh...deh..." yesterday - so cool!), and motor skills. The pediatrician was quite impressed by the amount of food that PK eats at this point. While some of her little friends have 3-4tbsps of cereal, PK could easily have 6-7tbsps. Given how much she eats, it's surpising that she's just under 25th-percentile on weight.

As I've mentioned in a previous post, we're working on getting PK to both crawl and walk. She's got the walking thing somewhat figured out. She can move her legs, though her left leg is a bit iffier than the right. The doctor was pretty impressed by the fact that she's already "walking" assisted this early.

As for crawling, PK has figured out how to get on all fours from sitting and then onto her tummy. She started working on this last week, and does it quite gracefully now. There is no forward movement as yet, though I get the feeling that she's working on figuring out how to do an army crawl. Still, I think that she'll probably walk before she crawls.

And finally, the pediatrician made a very pleasant discovery today. PK's 2nd tooth has come in - her bottom (middle-ish) left tooth! On Thursday she was extra-drooly, had a rosy right cheek, and was chewing on her Sophie Giraffe, so I wonder if we have yet another tooth coming in.

Our next appointment is at 10 months. Thank goodness this next appointment doesn't involve any vaccinations either!
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Done Deal

Yesterday, I finally mustered up the courage to tell my mom about the new daycare arrangements. I'd been putting it off for weeks. I was going to tell her once she got back from Brazil, but it just never seemed to be the right time. I was totally convinced that she'd freak on me, thinking that I'm trying to keep PK away from her. After all, she took offence when I initially rejected the suggestion of her looking after PK once a week once I was back at work.

Much to my surprise, she didn't seem to have a problem with it. Whew!

The Potty

I mentioned last week that I bought a potty for PK. I really really want her potty-trained by around age one, give or take. I know that this is both realistic and possible, since both my sis and I were potty-trained by age one. My mom said that she did it in about one week. Guess who will be helping me with this when the time comes? ;-)

Anyway, even though I don't plan on doing any hard-core potty training until a few months from now, I really wanted PK to get used to her new potty. So after I gave her a bottle last week, I plopped her on the potty. She likes sitting, so I thought it would be fine. Well, she FREAKED on me. It was if she were being drawn in quarters - that's how much she screamed when I put her on. I tried it again later, and same deal. My mom thinks that it's because it may be too early for her, and suggested that I maybe wait a little while before attempting this again. Otherwise, the potty might traumatize her, and then who know when she'd be potty-trained.

When Pigs Fly

I think that pigs are flying right now, because something completely unprecedented has happened - PK is actually spending time on her tummy out of her own free will! I kid you not! It started about a week ago. All of a sudden, quite out of the blue, PK started doing barrel rolls. She could roll onto her tummy before, but whenever she did that, she always had one arm stuck under her torso, which she either never bothered to move, or never figured out how to move. Well, now she knows how to move said arm, and can actually push herself up (a half-push-up, with just her torso pushed off the floor).

I have found her playing on her tummy on more than one occasion. While she doesn't stay there very long, the fact that the actually elects to be there is HUGE! I never thought I'd see the day! To add to this, PK can now go from sitting to being on her hands and knees for a brief moment before settling into a half-push-up position. How cool is that? Could this mean that she will actually crawl?

I've been working on this with her over the past week or so, usually using her soother as bait. We used to practice on top of my bed, because it provides her with a soft surface to fall on. Unfortunately, she realized this and started throwing herself forward so that she'd fall on her side or tummy and roll onto her back to get into position to get her soother. So we started practicing on the floor. Unfortunately, my floors are hardwood and PK was smart enough to realize that falling on these floors is more painful. This meant that she was more reluctant to go after objects. So I started practicing on her foam mat. It's a hard enough that she knows that she can't just fling herself forward to get her soother, but it's soft enough that she's not afraid of falling. Yay!

At the same time, we are practicing walking. She has finally figured out how to move her legs to propel herself forward. She does it very awkwardly, but is able to move forward. Interestingly enough, I can't get her to walk if I pull her arms up and hold her hands. She ends up looking up at me and giggling. So we've resorted to supporting her just below her armpits or by holding her arms out horizontally. That seems to do the trick. To add to the excitement, PK was actually able to stand on her own for a full 5 seconds today! It happened during music class, and I was so shocked. She hasn't been able to reproduce it, but I'm sure it'll come. Baby steps!

Chopped Liver

Well, it looks like I've been downgraded to chopped liver status. PK has decided that my mom and the hubby are waaaaaaaaaaaaay cooler than I am. Yesterday, for example, I was sitting in the kitchen giving PK a bottle at breakfast when my mom came into the house. As soon as PK heard my mom's voice, she STOPPED drinking her bottle and started shreiking with delight. PK LOVES her bottle, and there is NOTHING in this world that would keep her from her bottle. Except for my mom, apparently.

When the hubby comes home, PK gives him this great big grin, which she's always done. Nothing out of the ordinary there. But today, something new happened. We were playing with PK up in her room, when she fell over from a seated position. She started crying, and the hubby propped her back up in a seated position. She looked at him and extended her arms, asking him to pick her up. And when he picked her up, he gave her a hug! She never does that for me! Boo hoo. :(

I'm told that this behavior is due to the fact that she sees me for a big chunk of the day. My mom and the hubby, however, are novelties, so she actually looks forward to seeing them. I sure hope that that's the case, because I'm feeling pretty left out.

Work Update

About three weeks ago, I met with my boss and his boss to discuss my back-to-work plan. I was armed with a set of questions to help me decide whether or not it was worth my while (and theirs) to return to work part-time before the year was up. I went into the meeting pretty convinced that working part-time for a month or two before returning to work full-time wouldn't really benefit them, thereby making my decision relatively easy.

Well, it turned out that:
1. They had interesting projects starting up
2. I'd be able to jump into things right where I'd left them (i.e. on track for a promotion, hopefully)
3. There was a cubicle waiting for me
4. They were more than happy to have me start part-time for a month or two before August rolled around.

That sure threw me for a loop! I came out of the meeting happy that they were obviously looking forward to having me back, but at the same time, I definitely had some thinking to do. My boss has two young girls of his own and therefore has some perspective (i.e. he is not a crazy-assed work martyr). He said that while they'd be more than happy to have me back sooner, he also recognized that mat-leave only happens once (and even if I had another kid, the situation would be different altogether). Point taken.

I basically left the meeting promising that I'd give them my final decision in two weeks' time. It was a difficult decision. After all, I'd be potentially starting work right in the beginning of summer (I was looking at starting part-time sometime in June). I haven't had summer off since I was a student, so this would be an extra treat. Also, PK is getting to be so interesting right now! What if I missed out on some milestone, like her first step or her first word? At the same time, there are days when I get so bored being at home all day with PK. I feel like I have gotten dumber since starting on mat-leave, in spite of the fact that I still keep up with the news, read, and take violin lessons - especially since I only do these things for a few hours at a time. There are days when I'm playing with PK and all I can think of is when she's going to nap so that I can get some time to myself.

I gave the matter some serious thought in those two weeks, and finally made a decidsion that I could live with. My plan was to return to work part-time in mid-June, working three days a week (Monday through Wednesday), and start in on the full-time work in early September. My mom would take care of her while I was at work, and that would be that. I figured that part-time work for 2.5 months wouldn't be so bad. I'd still get to enjoy the nice summertime weather since I'd be off for two days in the week. Also, working part-time before starting full-time would make that transition back to work a bit less stressful (so I hoped).

Before I let my boss know about my decision, I called up my mom to let her know my plan. She said that it would be better for her to look after PK on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, since three days in a row of caring for PK would be way too overwhelming. Damn! Just when I'd finally gotten comfortable with my back-to-work plan, I was thrown a curveball. Back to the drawing board...

While I totally understood that from her perspective, coming downtown to my place from the burbs to look after PK for three days in a row each week would be tiring, I also had to consider things from my perspective. Working part-time three days in a row would be much better for my company, and much better for me. Working Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays would make me more resentful. It would be like having two Mondays in a week! After some pondering, however, I conceded that she was, after all, doing me a favor, and opted to adjust my plan to accommodate her request. So my final plan ended up being that I'd work part-time in July (on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays), and start full-time just after PK's birthday in August. The plan wasn't ideal, but it would work. I'd be able to tolerate the weird part-time work schedule if I did it for about a month.

Once that was hammered out, I wrote to my boss to let him know about my plan. That was almost one week ago. I'm still waiting to hear back. I sent him a quick message late last week to check to see if he'd had a chance to go over my back-to-work plan. I heard nothing back. My guess is that he had to go to HR to see whether or not that plan was viable, and wasn't going to reply to my e-mail until he had a definitive answer. Still, it's a bit nerve-wracking. I guess I just need to sit pretty until he gets back to me. In the meantime, I guess I should enjoy the rest of my time off!

Eight Months Old!

Didn't I just celebrate PK's six-month birthday yesterday? And now as of today, she is eight months old! Where did the time go? Seriously!

A lot has happened in this last month, mostly in the last couple of weeks, even. First, we have PK's first tooth popping out. It started popping out about a week and a half ago. It's still a little stump, but slowly but surely, it's making its way out. In the meantime, we bought a little baby toothbrush to promote good oral hygiene. It's never to early! The "toothbrush" we bought PK looks more like a silicone thimble with little silicone bristles. Technically you're not supposed to use any toothpaste at this age, so I just brush the one tooth au naturel. At first PK was a bit suspicious of this foreign object in her mouth, but now she quite enjoys it. It totally makes her giggle! I think a second tooth is on its way out, though who knows how much longer that will be. She's started chomping on her toys using the left side of her mouth, and we've seen a bit of redness on her left cheek, so it may be popping out in the next couple of weeks. We'll see.

PK is currently working on both walking and crawling. She stands really well now. It's still her all-time favorite activity. She could go on for hours, if her little legs didn't give out on her. She continues experimenting with letting go of whatever she's holding on to, to see if she can stand on her own. She's managed to stand on her own for maybe a second or two so far, so it's a start! We've also started seeing some signs of assisted walking. She is now learning to move her legs while in a standing position (which sometimes causes her to lose her balance because she can't move them fast enough to regain stability), and we've even down some walking practice where she manages to get her little legs to move forward a bit.

Crawling may yet happen with our little munchkin. PK LOVES her soother, and will go through great lengths to grab it and put it in her mouth. If she sees her soother from a sitting position, she'll reach forward to grab it. I'm capitalizing on this love affair with her soother, and putting it just out of her reach. She has actually in the last couple of days managed to get on all fours, lower herself to her tummy on the floor, and grab the soother with her left hand. It looks like some sort of Yoga move! Most of the time, however, she launches herself from a seated position, falls flat on her face, giggless, rolls over to her side, and grabs her soother, looking pretty damned proud of her accomplishment. It's definitely an accomplishment, though a little unconventional. On a side note, if you want unconventional, there's this one little girl at storytime who scoots around REALLY fast by sitting on her little baby butt and using her legs to propel her. That kid gets quite a bit of speed!

On the talking front, PK is experimenting with lots of sounds. She still loves squealing, especially when she likes something or when she recognizes a song. She loves making motorboat sounds, and enjoys going "ha...ha...ha..." Yesterday she discovered the "beh!" sound, and said it a few times. She also makes some gurgling sounds that come from the back of her throat. They're pretty neat, and I wish that I could reproduce them!

And finally, food. Even though there are foods that she hates (see the rutabaga incident - yesterday's post), I still manage to get her to eat most things. To date, we've done:
- sweet potato
- butternut squash
- carrots
- potatoes
- mangoes
- apples
- pears
- plums
- yogurt (yes, I've succeeded in mixing plain yogurt with fruit purée!)
- barley cereal
- oatmeal cereal

I'm currently working on getting her to drink water. It kind of works if it put it in a bottle that previously contained some formula, and yesterday I re-introduced water from a spoon. She seems to like that, so I'll keep at it.

All in all, a very eventful month. My goals for next month are to work on the crawling and standing, and start some potty training. Some of her little friends have started pooping in the toilet, so it's obviously doable. It'll be a tough road ahead, but my goal is for PK to be diaperless by about one year of age. Wish me luck!

The Great Carrier Adventure

Last Friday, it was raining A LOT. So much so, that I didn't think we'd be able to make it out to storytime. There are 6 steps leading up to my front door, and given the fact that to get PK out the door, I have to carry the stroller out, followed by PK, it would've been a complete mess in that rainy weather. But then I had a thought - why not take PK out in the carrier? Here was my plan:
- Take the backpack diaper bag instead of my regular messenger-style bag diaper bag
- Wear my Columbia ski jacket, zipped around PK so that she'd stay dry too
- Put her Robeez leather winter booties on to keep her feet dry
- Use my umbrella to keep us both dry

I packed the diaper backpack pretty light - a change pad, bottle, two 89ml jars of ready-to-serve formula, an emergency change of clothes, a bib, 4 diapers, baby wipes, and a spare soother. After all, we weren't going very far. Even though it was about 7 or 8C outside, I put PK in a pretty thin jacket, figuring that my ski jacket coupled with my body heat would keep her warm.

Unfortunately, we ran into a few problems.

1. My ski jacket didn't close too well around PK. I'm not a big person to begin with, so I should've figured. The jacket closed around her thigh, at best. So the front of the carrier ended up getting wet from the rain.

2. It was REALLY windy, and my umbrella busted. It still did the job, but it ended up a bit lop-sided. I ended up having to get a new umbrella yesterday as a result of this.

3. I REALLY REALLY underestimated how cold it was. I was nice and warm, but PK wasn't all that warm. Considering how cold her arms and legs were when we got to the library, I'm surprised that she didn't complain more. I really wished that I'd put her in a warmer jacket and warmer pants (maybe some tights underneath the pants would've done the trick).

4. PK isn't used to the carrier - at least not outdoors. I have her in the carrier indoors all the time during our semi-regular Singy Dancy Time where I sing and dance to YMCA, Elvis, and Beatles tunes. Lots of fun. Hanging out in the carrier in the rain with her arms stuck inside a jacket bared no resemblance to Singy Dancy Time, and PK knew it. She was kind of pissed. She started complaining about halfway there, but there was no turning back at this point in time. We were going to storytime, whether she wanted to or not.

5. I REALLY should've brought more formula with me. I always keep 4 89ml ready-to-serve jars of formula and one 250ml ready-to-serve can of formula in the diaper bag. I didn't think I'd run into any emergency situations, so I didn't pack the extras. PK always takes a bottle about halfway into storytime. So you can imagine how disappointed and panicked I was when I discovered that the tops didn't pop for EITHER jar of formula. Worse than that, PK had caught sight of her bottle and knew what was (supposed to be) coming. When she catches sight of her bottle, it's over. Feed her, or suffer her screaming wrath. I was beginning to think that I'd have to rush home to feed her. Fortunately, a nanny sitting beside me distracted PK while I frantically put her bottle away as I cursed under my breath. Also lucky for me was the fact that PK had had a HUGE-ASS breakfast - a 180ml bottle followed by 5 tbsp of oat cereal mixed with home-made apple/pineapple purée. So she wasn't REALLY hungry and was able to hold off until we got home. Whew!

So all in all, it was quite an adventure. It was definitely a learning experience for both of us. The good news is that I finally took the carrier out for a spin and it is definitely a viable option for getting around for A to B when the weather is nicer. I don't know about using the carrier for longer trips, but it's certainly a nice option for shorter trips, and definitely requires less prep time.

The Parsnip Saga

Last week, I introduced PK to parsnips. I mixed them in with sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, and red lentils to make what I thought would be a yummy and nutricious puree.

It turns out that she didn't really like this partucular mixture. I don't blame her. After one day of storing it in the fridge, it was quite smelly. (As an aside, it didn't smell so bad after I'd finished cooking it.) She basically took 4 spoonfuls of the stuff before she decided that she'd have no more. So I tried a dirty trick; I offered her her soother, and when she opened her mouth, I shoved in a spoonful of the puree. This worked three more times before she caught on and wouldonly open her mouth a teeny bit only once the soother got a few millimeters from her mouth. Clever little girl! I certainly got a good laugh out of it!

So I tried my next dirty trick; I gave her a few spoonfuls of apple puree from a jar (one of her favorites) to regain her confidence in food, and then mixed subsequent spoonfuls of apple puree with my veggie puree. That did the trick! She ended up finishing off 90% of her veggie puree in this manner. Yay!

I'm happy to report that in using this trick, we've gone through most of my home-made puree. Whew!

Today, we were at the grocery store and I decided to buy more parsnips to try out a different recipe. It was then that I made an important discovery - the so-called parsnip that I thought I'd bought last week was no parsnip. It was a rutabaga! I shamefully admit that I had no idea what a parsnip looked like, and when I thought I'd bought one last week, the rutebagas had been mis-labelled as parsnips. I'd discovered my blunder when the rutebagas were properly labelled and the parsnip label was missing. I had to Google parsnips on my Blackberry to figure out what they looked like. For those who don't know, parsnips look like white-ish carrots.

Well, THAT explains why the puree was smelly and why she didn't particularly like it!
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