Plates, silverware, and cups...oh my!

Vow to Self

- From here on out, I'm going to be better at giving Boo plates, silverware, and open cups to experiment with. I'm going to try not to just throw food on his tray as though it were a trough. I'm going to actually remember to get out a plate and place his food nicely on the plate, even if it only stays there for a short while. I'm going to give him silverware so that he can at least recognize there's another option aside from fingers (even if he chooses not to try it). I'm going to give him his open cup more because the cheesy grin he gives when he gets to slop water all over himself from the open cup is just priceless.

Eating on the Run

There's a problem in our eating that I'm struggling to fix. Whenever we get busy, meaning if we have anything going on during the evening at all, we end up eating out. And it's so awful. Usually the food is not very healthy. It's expensive and we really can't afford to eat out that often anyways. But I find that this happens over and over because the majority of what I buy is just not quick to prepare. So I'm trying to figure out what to do about this. I think it's really putting a wrench in the works as far as the healthy eating goes. Perhaps I would start to see some change in my health if it weren't for the eating out. And yes, this problem happens pretty regularly. And it's not stuff Boo should be eating either. I don't want him to get in the habit of eating junk just because he's in a hurry. And honestly, sometimes it's not because I'm in a hurry. Sometimes this happens because I'm just tired and can't imagine dragging myself into the kitchen to fix a meal. So, I need to figure this out for us to be more successful in our journey of healthy eating and teaching Boo good eating habits.

Almondapplicious Banana Grill

That's what I'm calling what we had for lunch today. I used sourdough bread. On one side was almond butter. The other side I put unsweetened applesauce. For the filling I cut thin slices of banana - I think it could be overkill if the banana was too thick. I then grilled this just like you would a grilled cheese. This was so yummy. Boo and I both approved. Although Boo prefers to pull his sandwich apart and eat the insides, then suck on the bread!

Quinoa Pilaf with Feta

We had this last night. So, Boo loved this and I loved it. T hated it. He's fed up with the vegetarian meals...LOL! I got it out of a Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook entitled "Simple Suppers." Someone recommended it to me and I think it's pretty great!

And by the way, quinoa is pronounced "keen-wa". Oops...and all this time I was saying "quin-oh-uh". My bad. A friend recommended this product and I'm glad that we tried it. It was super easy to prepare and I could definitely see this going with a lot of things.

We had the leftovers for breakfast this morning as we got around pretty late and I just didn't feel like making much, what with my recently sprained ankle and all. Yes, I'm afraid that it's made me quite lazy!

No Battles

You know one thing I really appreciate about BLW thus far. No battles. He eats what he wants and leaves what he doesn't. I really think that's the way to go. I know there's people that would disagree and go on about nutrition and this and that. I could see that if I was giving him veggies and ice cream all the time and he chooses to eat only the ice cream. But I'm making healthy choices for our family and he's being exposed to those healthy things. I'm not saying that I've never made a bad choice, because we ordered pizza over the weekend. So, I am human. BUT, overall he's presented with healthy items and he picks and chooses which of them to eat. I feel that it's extremely respectful of him as a person. I mean, I'd be pissed if someone told me I HAD to eat brussel sprouts. I HATE them and I know I'll make up that nutrition in other ways.

As Boo gets older I plan to continue the spirit of BLW. Granted he won't be a baby anymore. But I don't think that once he's two or three or whatever we'll all of a sudden decide now we have to change the way he's presented with food. I grew up under the "clean your plate" mentality. And look where that got me. I'm just in the past year learning how to make healthy choices and prepare healthy meals. I'm proud to say that I now shop the perimeter of the grocery store, which is the "healthy" thing to do. I also incorporate lots of vegetables and legumes into our diet. I'm getting better at it as I do this more and more. But anyways, my point is that if I'm just now learning how to eat healthy at 29 years old, then the "clean your plate" mentality did nothing for me as far as healthy eating goes. Just something to consider.

Some food for thought. Okay - I just HAD to throw in the bad pun!

Yesterday's Picnic

Yesterday we had a picnic. Boo ate really nicely. He sat on the blanket for part of the picnic and then he sat on my lap for a bit too. He had cold sesame noodles. I got the recipe off of one of the vegetarian blogs I've been reading:

Cold Sesame Noodle recipe

You'll have to do a search, but you'll find it. Anyways, it's a great recipe. I've made it twice in the past couple of weeks as we strive to be more vegetarian-like lately. Boo loves it even though it's got a bit of a kick to it with the red pepper flakes. It was perfect to take to a picnic.

I took some homemade salsa with my fresh garden tomatoes. YUMMM!!! This is the first time that I've gotten to make my salsa with tomatoes from my garden. It was so good. Anyways, Boo had a bit of that on top of some melba toast.

And then of course he had blueberries. It wouldn't be a summer picnic without some fresh fruit. He did so well sitting on the blanket and eating. I was pretty impressed with him!

Cleaning Boo

I decided to post this as there were some questions about cleaning children during the BLW process. I am by no means an expert. I've just found some things that work for us and if it can help someone else in their journey, then that's wonderful. Anyways, first thing that helps is a good highchair. Nothing with cloth. I've never had a highchair with cloth on it, but I can only imagine the horrible mess it would be. Crevices are bad too as they will get filled with gunk. We use the antilop highchair from IKEA and I couldn't be happier with the choice. There are some cuter options out there, but honestly, I don't feel a need to have something with animal or nursery print in the middle of my kitchen. Here's a link to the highchair in case you're looking for one:

IKEA Highchair

The tray comes separately so be sure to get the tray also!

Good full-coverage bibs. I've read on my BLW yahoo group that some people are using muslin tied around the baby. I think that would also do the job quite nicely. Here's what I use:

I-Play Bibs

One thing I've done is put some soap and water in a spray bottle. I use Dr. Bronner's, but you can use any mild soap that you like. Often I will spray Boo down before he even leaves the highchair. Then I may follow with a wet paper towel. If he's not that messy I may skip the initial spraying and just carry him to the sink to wash his hands in the faucet. One day after blackberries I just plopped his entire body into the sink for an impromptu bath. Most days though I just get what I can. If there's food dangling from his hair I'll scrub his head with the cloth and get the food out and send him on his way to play!

So hopefully this will be helpful to someone in the journey of BLW!