Jackson Likes to Share...

...His food, with the cat. 

I take it this is the point at which babies lose interest in food? I knew one day he would now longer eat like it was going out of style, but i don't make oatmeal pancakes and baked apples for the cat.

(BTW, Zipper [cat] eats twice as much as he should already)

Baby Finger Foods

Jackson has been eating finger foods for a while. Since introducing solid foods, he's never had a problem with eating chunks, and chewing. We started with cooked pieces of vegetables, and eventually moved on to soft fruits, pasta, meat, cheerios etc. A lot of parents are leery about starting finger foods, but you would be surprised to see what babies can mush with their gums! You can find some tips here to decide if your baby is ready to try finger foods. You should always introduce one new food to baby at a time, and wait a few days in between new foods in case of reaction. We have found that sometimes j won't like a certain food, sometimes the food just needs to be cooked differently, or seasoned. A great tip for fruits, is to coat them in crushed cereal, to allow baby to grip them better. 


Some Finger foods for baby:


Fruits (cut into cubes);
-Pear (soft)
-Banana
-Melon
-Avocado
-Kiwi
-Blueberries (i smush them slightly to break the skin, or cut them if they're really big)
-Apple (baked)
-Mango


Veggies (cooked until soft, when needed cut into cubes);
-Sweet potato
-Peas
-Carrot
-Squash
-Broccoli (this we have started putting in his meatloaf, he's not a fan, regardless of seasoning)
-Green beans (J isn't a fan, but they really don't have taste unless seasoned)


Grains;
-Whole grain toast (cut into pieces, or strips, we spread avocado on it)
-Whole grain pasta (we add sauce, parmesan cheese, and cubed veggies and meat)
-Whole grain rice 
-Cheerios, nutrios, puffed kamut, or wheat
-Cut up pita
-Sandwiches, made with whole grain bread (we make grilled cheese, with sneaky broccoli, and cut the sandwich into strips)


Other;
-Egg yolk
-Small dices of cheese
-Meatloaf sticks
-Small dices of chicken or beef


We've discovered lately, that Jackson can really eat whatever we are eating. Provided that it isn't too spicy, salty, or has added sugar. 


I am always on the hunt for new fun recipes for him, and sneaky ways to hide the veggies he doesn't like!


*Always consult your doctor before starting baby on solid foods, introducing new foods, or introducing finger foods.

Baby Finger Food Recipe: Broccoli Bites

Jackson loves feeding himself finger foods, and he likes almost everything. Broccoli, not so much. I'm always looking for inventive ways to sneak it in. These definitely do the trick.

Broccoli Bites

16oz  broccoli (you could use other veggies also)

1 cup bread crumbs 

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese 

3  eggs 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375
Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil
Combine all ingredients, mix.

Shape the mixture into nuggets, or french fry shapes. Place on oiled baking sheet, bake for 20-25 minutes (depending on the size and shape you've made them), turning them over after 15 minutes.

We add various spices, garlic, cumin etc. It depends on your child's preferences. These should be broken into small pieces that are manageable for your child.

Our Weekend Looked Like This

 We celebrated a double digit birthday with my nephew, Jacksons cousin. Jackson had pizza for the first time. Obviously not the best choice for a baby, but we tried tuna with him for the first time, and he wouldn't eat it. So pizza it was! He loved it, of course.

He does love his toast with avocado though!

Lastly a giant bonfire. Night shots with the D60 are awesome!

What is Jackson Eating?

So. The carrot snack sticks didn't work out. I tried two batches, and just couldn't get the dough to form. I'm going to watch the video posted on the Weelicious website try and figure out what went wrong.But....I did make Jackson a delicious turkey meatloaf. 

Turkey Meat Loaf

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey
1 whole egg or 2 egg yolks
1/2 cup grated carrots
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup bread crumbs (or oatmeal)

Cinnamon

Cumin

Directions:

Place ground turkey in a large mixing bowl.
Add the egg/yolk, carrots, applesauce, spices, and bread crumbs. Mix well.

Place into a lightly oiled loaf pan, bake at 350F for a 45 minutes or until a fork inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool, and cut into french fry shaped pieces that children can feed to themselves. (You could also mash it with a fork for spoon feeding)

Jackson tries to shove the while stick in his mouth, so i break them into cubes.This made enough for several meals, so i refrigerated half, and froze half. You could probably substitute the carrots for another vegetable. Meatloaf is great for hiding veggies! Jackson had turkey meat loaf, and sweet potato for dinner tonight, and he LOVED it. When he likes food, he rocks back and forth in his high chair, kicks his legs, and makes this crazy gasping/creaking/yelling sound. It's cute, even though he appears crazy while doing it. 


*Always get a doctors approval before starting solids with your baby, and before moving to finger foods or table foods.

Link Love

I had to share this website. Weelicious is a website devoted to fun, fresh and fast meal ideas for babies, toddlers, and children. I'm going to make Jackson some Carrot Snack Sticks tonight. Yum!

What Can I Say, Kid likes to EAT!

I wonder how long this phase will last? Obsessed with food, and a bottomless pit! At least he's filling up on healthy food. Yummy Yummy carrot and broccoli mash with tofu.

My Little Mover

Jackson is allllways on the go lately. He's still army crawling up a storm, but he's always on his hands and knees.  I hope he gets the hands and knees crawling down soon, you can tell he's irritated that it takes so long to get everywhere, dragging around on his tummy (and he has rug burn on his poor elbow). He figured out a week ago, how to get from tummy to sitting. This week he's just figured out how to pull up, but only on short things, as he's a short guy. Today he wanted so badly to climb up on the couch and ottoman. He was standing at the ottoman, reaching, grabbing, getting his knee up in the air, but alas, he is far too short.I feel bad for my little man, so determined, and wanting to do so many things, that his little body just isn't big enough for yet.


He's also got a HUGE appetite lately. He's always been such a good eater, but the more he's started to move, the hungrier he gets. He now nurses 6 times a day, eats three meals, and has two snacks. He usually snacks on Nutrios and Mum Mums. I have no idea where he puts so much food. For now I'll let him eat as much as he wants, i know eventually he'll be so active and interested in playing that he'll lose interest in foods. Not to mention that his weight gain has slowed down a lot. I expected that to happen, the nurse at Well Baby told me hat they tend to gain less weight when the start moving.


Foods he's eating right now and LOVES:
-Carrot and broccoli mash (i add a little rice milk for consistency, and sometimes add avocado for texture)
-Cottage cheese
-Sweet Potato
-Apples and oatmeal
-Brown rice
-Mango
-Tofu with anything
-Any fruit really (but we try to give him more veg.)
-Scrambled egg yolk
-Chicken and pork (but he really doesn't eat much meat, which is fine because he gets protein from other sources)
-Plain yogurt
-Parsnips (only when i saute with olive oil and garlic, he didn't like them plain)
-Tomatoes


Foods he HATES:
-Carrots and broccoli if they're not mashed together (strange)
-Salsa (even extra mild)
-Oranges


I've started to add more flavour to his foods. Sauteing some things with a little olive oil, garlic, cumin, curry powder etc. I use very little seasoning, i think any seasoning is probably very noticeable to a baby.


What does you little one love to eat? Any tips for sneaking healthy food in? The carrot and broccoli mash works good, he doesn't seem to notice the broccoli.

Feeding Oneself

These days the Jax man is improving his dexterity by leaps and bounds. He can grab anything that's not too squishy, but just squishy enough that he can gum it. I don't know that there is any set age that you should let a baby feed them self, i know some babies Jacksons age show no interest in food. So far he can pick up and eat, Nutrios (i prefer them over Cheerios, because they have no added sugar or salt), chopped up tomato, squished blueberries, cooked and chopped sweet potato, cooked and chopped green beans, bits of cooked meat, bits of french toast and pancakes (not on a regular basis), cooked egg yolk, and of course baby Mum Mums. These are all the foods we've let him feed himself so far. Of course you have to be very careful, and pay close attention while they are feeding them selves. We only give him a few pieces of food on his high chair tray at a time, because he is inclined to grab fistfuls and shove them in his mouth. If he's too hungry, he has no interest in anything but mommy or daddy feeding him, so the food gets in his belly at an expedient rate. What can i say, my little man likes to eat! In the pics, he was trying to eat bananas, they are way to squishy, and he pulverizes them in his iron fist!

5 Months

This little stinker is 5 months old. 

What has month 5 brought?

For us;

More love, hugs, kisses and amazement than we could ever imagine. 

Having a child really is like having your heart outside of your body. 

I so look forward to scooping him up out of his crib and drawing out the morning, snuggling in bed.

Marcus looks forward to coming home everyday, because the excitement in Jacksons eyes when his daddy finally comes home makes it all worth it.

For the Jaxman;

Rolling like a maniac

Perfecting sitting (he can sit for 15-20 mins without tumbling over)

Putting his sookie in his mouth

Sleeping and napping like a champ in his crib

Standing holding onto our fingers

Attempting to pull himself across the floor (i see crawling in a month)

Jumping up and down in his exersaucer 

Foods he's tried;

Sweet potato

Squash

Carrots

Peas (didn't like)

Green Beans

Bananas 

Apples

Peaches

Pears

Prunes 

Lentils (only mixed with veg)

Tofu (only mixed with veg)

Avacado

My dear sweet boy, the past 5 months have flown by. 

Each day with you is more fun than the last, and we look forward to the months to come.

Handy Bites

I ordered one of these for Jackson today.

 He's been eating solid foods since he was four months old, and can now feed himself rice crackers (they dissolve). I think this is a super handy way for him to feed himself without dropping and wasting food. As he gets older i think it will be really handy for fruits/crackers/veggies on the go. Or just a great way to wrangle his toys that don't have a spot to clip onto with his rings.

I ordered it from www.babyhalfoff.com

It's a great site that has a new deal everyday, on things for baby.

Warning; this site is addictive!

Kicking Packaged Foods

I'll admit I've always loved a lot of different processed/prepackage foods. Diet cola, low fat yogurt, yummy yummy mini rice cakes, "healthy"granola bars. Having a child of your own makes you rethink a lot of things. You want to set a good example, be the best person you can be, give 100% of yourself. (at least for me it does). At the Henderson household we've tried to clean up our eating habits. We stopped buying ice cream and chips, we only buy whole grain pasta, brown rice, no sugar cereals etc. I've recently realized that's not enough.

Our baby eats better than we do! Our society has become so weighed down by packaged foods (literally-considering over half of the population is overweight) I think a lot of it is habit, availability of fast foods, mis-education and good ole laziness. We all love to make excuses, "I don't have time to make dinner" is a big one. Finding time now to eat a healthy diet, will give you more time ALIVE! If we want to live as long as possible, why wouldn't we eat as healthy as we can? It doesn't help that we've been convinced that "loving our body" means it's okay to be overweight. Shouldn't loving your body mean treating it well? Providing it with the best fuel you can?

Food was put here for us to eat, in it's natural state (or as close to it as possible) Read the label of almost anything that claims to be healthy, and there will still be a handful of ingredients you can't pronounce. Many people will buy anything that is "blue menu" has the "heart check" symbol, or has the words "low fat" on the box.  I don't know how we got so far off track, but around here we're going to fix it.

I'm not going to buy any pre-made food, within reason.
99% of our shopping will be done in the perimeter of the grocery store. Fruits, veg, meat, dairy, whole grains. Marcus is a little unhappy that I'm not going to buy his precious popsicles, but i've promised to make some with good old fruit. Healthy food is nutritious, wholesome, and it tastes better than the pre-packaged refined junk. I think a lot of us have just forgotten that. I'm sure some of these things have their place in this world as a treat, but treats are meant to be consumed once in a while, not daily.

It'll take some getting used to, but before long it will be second nature, not to mention the health benefits we'll feel from eliminating the chemicals from our diet. It will all be worth it, when my son isn't eating fruit loops for breakfast, pre-pacakaged lunches, or chips as a snack.

Go on, eat a big slice of watermelon, make a homemade hamburger, bake a delicious summer squash or whip up a tomato and basil salad. Give real food a chance, your taste buds will thank you.

Part Two: Meeting Uncle Jesse

Saturday we went fishing with Marcus' siblings.

We all caught some fish. Got a little sunburnt. 

But we had fun spending time together. 

Later we went to Port Dover for lunch and ice cream. Yum! It's a great place to go for fish and chips, don't expect any healthy options.

The beach here is usually really nice, it was a tad foggy that day. Too cold for us and the little man. We've tried him in the water, he doesn't seem to be a fan unless the water is really warm, hopefully he will like it more if we keep trying. I want him to be a little water baby.

Jackson loves days like this where we are out and about all day. 

He is usually very well behaved, he loves the stroller....usually...knock on wood.

Jackson's uncle Jesse is gone home now. 

We'll see him again in a year or two maybe? 

It's very important to us that Jackson spend time with his family.

How we wish we could all go to Australia to visit them. 

Maybe one day...

Solid Foods

When did you introduce solids? What did you start with? Whose advice did you follow?

Upon the advice of our doctor, Jackson is eating solid foods. 

Well...more like liquid solid foods. First rice cereal, then oatmeal, then barley. Soon we will venture into vegetables. How exciting. He is loving cereal.

I don't believe in putting cereal in a bottle. 

When a baby is ready to eat, they should only do so if they can eat, with a spoon, sitting up. 

I also don't believe you have to wait until they are a specified age. 

All children are different and they do things at different rates. You have to follow the baby's cues. If they are nursing every two hours, for more than a few days, they may need a little bit more than just breast milk. If they can take food from a spoon and they don't push it out wit their tongue, maybe they are ready. It is up to you and your doctor to decide. Trust your instincts.

Food brings a whole new chapter...a very messy chapter. This is one of the times i encourage mess. 

As soon as he is able to get some food in his mouth on his own, 

i'll give him a bowl of cereal and let him at it. 

Babies are meant to be messy. They're sloppy folk.