I have to confess that when Elizabeth was nearing her sixth-month birthday (today!), I was beginning to dread it. Why? Because the 6 month marks the time when babies often begin experimenting with solid food (some start earlier, some later). Now of course it's an exciting time because I get to start feeding her different foods and watch her delight in certain tastes more than others. But the dread had more to do with the work involved. Because I think when it comes down to it, I have a bit of laziness and a lot of stubbornness in me. Nothing has been easier than needing only your body to feed a hungry child. Being spontaneous and frequently going outdoors has taken a bit of planning, but I've never had to "plan" the food department because I am the food department. But now there will be spoons and cups and snacks and bibs and wet wipes and lots of planning ahead. The laziness is definitely towards the extra thought and effort it will take to go out. But it's more than that. It's the food prep. And that's where the stubborn side of me kicks into high gear.
Maybe it's because I consider myself a Vancouverite (you-know, us granola-eating tree huggers), or because I've seen others do it successfully, or I'm trying to save a bit of money, or I care about Elizabeth's health and what food I put into her, but I am stubbornly determined to make my own organic and/or locally-grown baby food (I say "and/or" because I'd purchase non-organic apples from the Okanagan over organic ones from New Zealand). The whole "work" thing could be entirely minimized if I just went out and bought pre-made baby food...I could even buy organic baby food for that matter. But something in me says, No, you can do this. While another part of me says, It shouldn't be this stressful - cut yourself some slack. So I took my own advice and came up with a compromise:
1) I buy pre-made organic brown rice cereal to start, until Elizabeth eats more than 1-2 tsp of it. At this point, making my own cereal yields a crazy amount that doesn't freeze well and only lasts 3 days in the fridge - and I'm not keen on eating brown rice cereal myself at this point. It would only be wasteful.
2) I make my own organic veggie and fruit purees. I can make a lot and freeze a lot. Much easier than the cereals at this point.
So, 3 days ago we introduced Elizabeth to a whole new world (cue Aladdin song here). First up: brown rice cereal. Her reaction? See for yourself:
Yup, this was her first reaction.
Starting to warm up to it...holding the spoon sure helped.
I'm giving her one more day of this cereal (poor girl) and moving on to butternut squash and sweet potatoes -- I have a feeling this girl will take after her father and have a sweet tooth!
The adventure begins...and this compromise has given me space to enjoy it, rather than dread it!
And just for fun, here are a few pictures to celebrate Elizabeth's sixth-month birthday!
Getting ready to stroll around Stanley Park with friends
(Note: if you zoom in on the picture, you can faintly see her bottom teeth coming in)
Elizabeth's friends from my pregnancy group
(clockwise from top right: Evelyn, Echo, Saskia, Elizabeth & Gabriella)
Saskia nibbling on Elizabeth's fingers
3 comments:
First of all, way to go for wanting to give Elizabeth healthy, natural food! I think that if you can give yourself enough grace to get through the initial learning curve, you'll adjust to it quite well. Best of luck!
Had to laugh when I saw the solids post--Sophia is the same age as Elizabeth and we have been making baby food for awhile--food processor is the key! Way easier than the blender I used when I did it with Ian. I do keep some store bought stuff on hand for emergencies. Have fun!! I love the facial expressions!
Kathy - thanks so much for your encouragement! I'm definitely in the learning curve right now, and am surprised to find it takes way less time than I imagined! :)
Kim - I've been lucky to get by with a food mill right now, but I am very tempted to get a small food processor or submergible hand blender to do easy purees. We'll most likely get store bought food for when we travel down to California next month. How fun that Sophia and Elizabeth are the same age! :)
Post a Comment