Quinoa and broccoli

The Dude has now had the following new foods: broccoli, leeks, quinoa and parsnips. The broccoli we added to foods that he's already eaten, mostly to mask the strong broccoli taste and to make it a little more palatable. Needless to say this has made the poo situation more interesting.

I bought the Dude some of the Bobo Baby Quinoa and Mixed Vegetables. The Mixed Vegetables are zucchini, leeks and parsnips. I was taking a big chance on introducing three new foods at once, but I really wanted to buy some of the Bobo Baby to try it out. Based on the Joneja Food Allergen Scale, quinoa and parsnips very low on the allergen scale, meaning that the likelihood of the Dude reacting to it is rare. Leeks are not on the scale, but like I said, I was taking a bit of a risk. So far, so good. I also know the owner of Bobo Baby, and had her home cooked food before, she's definitely makes tasty stuff!

Yesterday and today, my mom made some quinoa in chicken stock, and added bits of chicken to it. I've noticed that the Dude's appetite has increased quite a bit, so we added to the packages that were already defrosted.

In other news, the Dude can now eat banana straight from the peel, like how most people eat banana. Of course, he needs assistance, but I'd figured since he now has 4 front teeth, biting should be a skill that he needs to learn. He's definitely getting the hang of it, and he mushes the banana in his mouth, a precursor to chewing skills, which is awesome. I'm glad his eating skills are coming along famously. Next, I'm thinking cottage cheese, but we'll see...

Blueberries!

Today the Dude had blueberries for the first time. I'm not certain if he really liked it as I wasn't feeding him. However, I noticed tonight that his eczema's flared up again. I'm really hoping it's the cold weather we're having and not the blueberries.

Breakfast: PC Organics Blueberries and Pears
Lunch: Mashed Organic Banana
Dinner: Leftover (1/2) Sweet Potato (My Organic Baby brand), (1/4) Carrot - home made, (1/4) Zucchini - home made, thickened with organic rice cereal.

I'm thinking that the Dude doesn't like the My Organic Baby Brand, so I'm going to give that a pass for sweet potato.

Chicken!!

So yesterday BabyL tried his first protein (not including formula of course): Chicken! I gave him President's Choice Strained and Pureed Organic Chicken and Organic Sweet Potato. He seemed to like it, and more importantly, hasn't shown a reaction yet, so this is good.

Today's menu:
- Breakfast: Homemade Applesauce and Oatmeal
- Lunch: Banana
- Dinner: Leftover Chicken, Sweet Potato and Zuchinni

Sweet Potato and Zucchini

Was okay, not his favourite, but he ate all 6oz! I was very surprised as I made 2 parts sweet potato to one part zucchini. But it was really, really runny, so it may be why he ate all of it, it's probably 75% water. Hopefully the fibre will help with his pooing.

Today's menu:
Breakfast - Homemade applesauce with oatmeal
Lunch - Banana
Dinner - 2 parts sweet potato to one part zucchini

Burnt

So I'd managed to burn the sweet potato I was trying to make for BabyL. So not impressed with myself. I also almost burnt the pot it was steaming in. Lucky for me I didn't burn the pot, but the house smells burnt. I'm in the process of airing it out right now. Also lucky that Hubby isn't too attached to the pot that I almost burnt.

So I still managed to make some applesauce and zucchini. The sweet potato was supposed to be mixed in the the zucchini, 2:1 ratio. That also didn't happen, because, well, I burnt the sweet potato. Apparently I didn't need to keep the heat on max after the water was boiling. But I did, and water boiled away. So hate cooking. Prep sucks.

Today's meal plan:

• Breakfast: Pears - jarred
• Lunch: Banana - mashed
• Dinner: Leftover Carrots and Rice Cereal - carrots mashed and heated
  

Zucchini

I made some zucchini a little while ago, and gave it to him to eat. I had to use the hand blender to puree the zucchini further as I had left the seeds in when I mashed it. It didn't go to well the first time when I tried feeding BabyL half-sweet potato, half-zucchini, both home made. I had decided instead to do a 2:1 ratio of sweet potato/carrot (jar) to zucchini, and he liked it better.

The hand blender is pretty sweet to use, I find destroying food satisfying, but the feed solids to a partially reluctant baby who isn't always wiling to eat stressful.

Real Food!

I bought a tray of Baby Cubes in an attempt as making and freezing my own baby food. I am worried that BabyL will get too used to the watery consistency of jarred baby food and not want to eat lumpier food. It has been known to happen.

So the other day I'd bought organic zucchini and organic sweet potato. I steamed both separately and mashed them up with a fork to a very mushy consistency. Now I don't know if I had mushed the food enough.

I had some leftover sweet potato and decided to use that as BabyL's dinner. Well, you should have seen the look on his face, you would have thought that he was suffering every time he swallowed! I think it was like trying to swallow really lumpy gravy, for him anyways. I think I was feeding him a little too fast because he eventually ended up gagging and throwing up everything that I'd fed to him. I was frustrated and wanted to cry at this point. Oh, did I tell you that the food prep took about 1.5 hours, and I was ready to throw in the towel then and there. This also made me hate cooking more!

The Dude has to learn to chew his food, otherwise, he won't get past the stage of eating more than watered down pureed food. Anyways, my mom came by and she fed him the rest of it. He eventually ate the rest of it without mishap. While I was eating my dinner, I was purposely showing him how to chew his food. I don't know if he got the concept or not, but I suppose he needs to practice.

I'm hoping that the next time we try this, it will be better.