Golden Pig Tales

When I got to pre-school yesterday, the kids were playing with these little multi-colored plastic toy animals. Ezra had a small family of bunnies and 1 gorilla. The other kids had their own little zoos. I noticed that one kid Ax was putting the animals in his mouth and chewing on them, but that wasn’t a surprise because this kid puts everything in his mouth and chews on it. Ezra and I went home and started to think about dinner. I asked what we should have, and Ezra said that he wanted eggs. So I got out some eggs and started to cracking. As I was whisking the eggs, Ezra looked at me and said “don’t eat animals”. And I said….”hmmm”. I was wondering whether he had gotten some go veg literature from someone somewhere. I asked him who told him not to eat the animals, and he said “Ax no eat animals” Then he went to the fridge and pointed at the cow magnet that he got from Grandma and Grandpa T, and said again “don’t eat animals”…”eat food”. Maybe he was thinking about how Ax was chewing on the animals at pre-school, and maybe the teacher told him not to eat the animals? Because I don’t think Ezra realizes yet that meat and eggs are animals, because he happily sat down to eat the eggs I made for him.

Put two Newman’s Own Organic Chocolate Alphabet Cookies on bottom of snack container. Then cover cookies with Annie’s Homegrown Cheddar Bunnies and raisins. Layer and spread 12 Grain Mini Snack Crackers, Barbara’s Bakery’s Puffins and a few more Annie’s Homegrown Cheddar Bunnies. Then peal a slice of Naturally Delicious Dried Mangoes to pieces an put pieces on top of Puffins and cheddar bunnies. Then break apart a graham cracker and put in snack container. Fill in remaining space with some raisins and a few more Annie’s Homegrown Cheddar Bunnies leaving some of the graham cracker exposed.

If there is a fruit in the house, Ezra will eat it. It can be fresh, previously frozen, canned, dried, freeze dried, dehydrated, or just dropped behind the couch and discovered 2 weeks later (well, maybe I made that last one up, because I’ve never seen him eat anything but cheerios he’s found behind the couch). Ezra likes bananas, oranges, kiwi, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, grapefruit, lemons, limes, raspberries, blackberries, mulberries, peaches, nectarines, pears, cherries, plums, pomegranate, jackfruit, rambutan, papaya, mango, mangosteen, pineapple, and he will eat an apple, but usually only if it’s been sauced. He also really likes tomoatoes, peas, beans, and olives, which are also technically fruits. I bet Ezra would even eat durian, which is known for being the stinkiest fruit on earth.  I will let you know when I discover a fruit that Ezra does not like.

Ezra has created his own sign for milk! It is only used for “mama milk” - Ezra hasn’t yet developed a drinking relationship with cow’s milk and he currently only uses it to wash his hands or squirt on his high chair tray. The first time he did this was last week when Grandma O was here visiting. I had come home from work, and was sitting in the living room with Ezra, Grandma O, and Kalab.   Ezra walked over to the couch and grabbed a pillow - one that I have frequently used to prop him up while he is nursing. I thought maybe he was just going to flop down with it on the floor, but instead, he walked it over to where I was sitting, and practically threw it at me! Then he waved his arms in the way he does when he wants to be picked up. So I thought this was cute and decided that since he had figured out a way to ask me, I would let him nurse. This might have been a mistake. Now every time Ezra wants to nurse (which has been often the last few days because it’s been so hot and he is teething), he picks up a pillow and gives me the sign for milk. And if I refuse him, he gets sort of upset!

Ezra’s sign for “mama milk” is so great I wish I had it on video! Maybe Kalab can help with this.

Applesauce, oatmeal cereal, yogurt. A banana and Cheerios. Beans and vegetables.

I have been nursing Ezra less and less the last few weeks. Ezra won’t have much to do with a bottle anymore, either. Which means that whatever I pump for daycare goes right down the sink instead of in Ezra’s belly. This leads me to believe that he doesn’t really need as much of my milk anymore, and nursing is probably more of a comfort than a necessity. I’ve noticed that even on days when I am home with him, he nurses much less partially because he’s eating 3 solid meals plus snacks and and partially because he doesn’t have as much time for nursing if he’s going to also climb stairs, navigate his corral, play with Jigga, read books, take naps, help me with my computering, and climb up my legs.

So we’re moving in what seems to be a natural way toward weaning, I guess. This is probably good - I am hoping to avoid a situation where I am having to pry a 2 year-old’s hands off my boobs because he still wants to nurse whenever he feels like it, or a 3 year-old who carries around a bottle everywhere. But it is a painful change in two ways: a) I see that my relationship with Ezra will never be the same once he stops nursing and this make me sort of sad because I realize how quickly he’s going to grow up and stop needing me for anything; and b) my boobs are not quite sure how much milk to produce and when, and sometimes I’m a little over-full and that’s painful in its own way, but it’s led to a slight case of mastitis, which sort of feels like someone’s trying to pull small rocks out my nipples, which freaking hurts!

Ezra is continuing to put on a fussy tantrum at dinner time. He seems hungry, and he will eat, but seems to be very particular about how and what food gets in his mouth.

I gave him a teething biscuit, which made him happy for a few minutes, then it made him cry. Maybe it was too hard? Then I gave him some avocado, from a spoon. That was OK for a while, but then that made him cry. Then I tried giving him chunks of avocado to feed himself, but that wasn’t OK because they are slippery and he had a hard time getting them into his mouth. I gave him a stick of string cheese, which made him happy until I took it away from him because he was trying to stuff the whole thing in his mouth, so then he cried. The only thing that didn’t seem to make him cry was eating  organic toasted Os cereal.

Then Ezra sat and watched Kalab and I eat our cinco de mayo tacos. Ezra seemed like he wanted to be eating tacos. I gave him a little tomato and some black beans, which made him happy, until he was sad that he could not eat the taco meat that I was eating,  and then he cried.

Maybe someday soon we will figure out how and what to feed Ezra for dinner so that there are no more tears with the food.

Tuesday night I sat down to feed Ezra his dinner of chicken casserole and peas with yogurt sauce. He was in his high chair and seemed fairly excited about eating. But I barely got two spoonfuls in his mouth and he was crying like there was no tomorrow. He didn’t want the chicken, he didn’t want peas, he didn’t want me putting that spoon anywhere near his mouth. I took him out of the chair and held him on my lap, because sometimes he just seems to prefer eating that way. But that didn’t seem to make him happy either. I put the bowl down on the table and he reached out for it. Then I decided to just see what he would do if he had access to the food. Ezra immediately, eagerly and happily, grabbed fistfulls of food and shoved them into his mouth, like some little caveman. He seems to have developed a profound desire to take charge of his food, but most strongly at dinner. I guess he’s growing up and this is what meal time might just look like for a while….I can’t wait to take this show on the road next week!

Ezra learned about the goodness that is cheese today! I gave him some good old Tillamook cheddar cut into little baby bite-sized pieces, and he had some of the pieces in between bites of sweet potato. He seemed to enjoy the cheese - and maybe even enjoyed the sweet potatoes a little more than usual…because he has already figured out that everything is better with a little cheese!

Ezra is slowly but surely moving away from feeding from bottles and boobs to eating regular food and drinking from a sippy cup. I have Born Free sippy cups just waiting to be used once Ezra is ready to try them (as more than just noisemakers he can bang on the table). We have some plastic bowls and utensils that I’ve been using, but I have been doing some internet investigations on the safety of these. Using plastic sort of stresses me out: is it BPA free? Phthalate free? PVC free? What if it has cute designs on the outside that are painted on with lead paint? So far, I think I’m safe with what I have, but you never know what chemical of concern might come up next week. Glass makes me a little uncomfortable because Ezra has a strong grip and I sort of fear having him grab the bowl, bang it on the table, break it, and slice his hand open. That leaves me with stainless steel or metal, or wood. I was looking at these wooden salad bowls that Kalab and I got as a wedding present…maybe that’s what Ezra should eat from? With his fingers, I guess. Maybe we can wait to have him use regular stainless utensils once he stops waving everything around so close to his face. Wouldn’t want him to poke an eye out. Safety First!

Potatoes! Ezra LOVES sweet potatoes.

Ezra likes sweet potatoes a little bit more than he likes avocado, but the kid does love him some creamy green stuff. A few more weeks and we can add some chopped up tomato and spices, and me and Kalab can sit on the couch with Ezra and eat chips and guac. Yummy! Here are Ezra’s food likes and dislikes thus far, 10 being favorite, 1 being yucky:

10. sweet potato

9. avocado

8. Cheetos Natural Puffs (oops!)

7.Bread Crusts

6. Peas

5. Banana

4. Papaya

3. Mango

2. Oatmeal

1. Rice Cereal

Ezra was like “no way!” on the oatmeal today, so I tried some banana. He did eat a little banana, but not much. I was hungry after trying to feed Ezra, so I made myself a turkey sandwich with cheese, which I ate while holding Ezra. He kept grabbing for my sandwich, so I held it up to him, and he took a bite of my sandwich! He really liked the crust of the bread. He got mad when I took it away, so I let him chew/suck on it, and when he finished it, he whined and grabbed at my sandwich until I gave him a little more. But he seemed to try and swallow chunks that were too big, too often, and he kind of gagged and threw up. But still wanted more bread. I am not sure what I should try and feed him tomorrow…

Ezra’s medication routine is getting more and more challenging. We’ve added amoxicillin to his daily regiment of Zantac and flouride, and top it off with a dose or two of Tylenol for his earache or tooth/gum aches. It’s like we’ve got an old person living with us what with all the prescription meds and droppers lying around the kitchen counter. If Ezra could talk, he could bond with his grandparents and great grandpa about all the medications they have to take every day and how it’s such a pain in the butt to keep track of all of them.

Ezra ate some avocado today and he was really excited about it. Combined with last night’s positive potato experience, and I am feeling better about the future of Ezra and solid foods.  But oatmeal is still not something he’s showing much excitement about.  Maybe he wants his grains as bread.

In Ezra’s case, more teeth does not mean eating more food. In fact, it’s sort of the opposite. He had a rough day with the teething, and went to bed before we could try feeding him again. Maybe tomorrow will bring less teething pain and more eating for Ezra.

Kalab got in on the action and fun of feeding Ezra yesterday. I wish I had taken video of it, but actually, it was pretty much the same as this video:

Ezra had his first taste of a food that is not breastmilk yesterday; it’s still unknown whether or not he enjoyed it.

I followed all the directions in all the baby feeding guidance - 1TB of rice cereal mixed with 3-4TB of breastmilk to produce a really liquidey milky rice broth. Yum…? Most of it ended up on the bib, on his shirt, on his face, and on the high chair. But it was fun for me! I had to try hard not to laugh when he would spit out everything I just put in, because I read somewhere that if you laugh when he makes messes while eating, he’ll be more likely to do it every time he eats because babies like to make you laugh. It was funny though. You can see for yourself, maybe tomorrow when I post part of the video Kalab made of the event.