Half Term Adventures: Tuesday

Here we are, day two of half term and I don’t think I’ve counted another grey hair! Whoop!

The plan today was to bake bread and see The Lego Movie, with the added bonus of a cousin, Sofia, and Daddy joining us for the afternoon!

Sofia was expected about midday and the film was at 2.30pm. Sofia and Callum were all excited about the bread making when I decided to change the plan to see The Lego Movie so I had to try to get both activities in.

Therefore, after dropping Millie at nursery and Stuart at work, the first task was to make the dough (well actually, after the usual dishes, laundry and cat related chores…there are always chores to do first kids!).

Once more, I had to keep a lid on my inner-control-freak and remember ‘I was doing it for the kids!’ So Callum helped me measure out the ingredients and got his (clean) fingers stuck in to mixing – OK so there was a bit of “let me just see if it is all mixed” and “let me pull in the dry ingredients at the bottom” oh and “Ill start off the needing”…what? Neither of us got stressed. I count that as progress!

He helped need the dough a bit before he thankfully got bored. Then off we took it to the airing cupboard to prove.

That took us until 9.30…still another couple of hours or so until Sofia due, what next?

We played games (while I continued with the odd chore). We played Jenga (which I lost), then Walk the Plank (which I won ) and then I had to teach Callum about the difference between a good loser and a bad loser…

Soon it was lunchtime, ‘Fia arrived and then it was time to get back to the bread making!

They both loved it, treating the dough like play dough and making different shapes and…er…lumps of things. They got covered in flour, wrote their names in the flour and I may have started a flour fight. We each made one thing to put in the oven then the remaining dough I had intended keeping for myself to make another masterpiece *cough* but I relented and let them share it between them for more doughy fun.

After the bread had been baked there was just enough time for a quick taster before we had to head out to pick Stuart up and head to the cinema.

The movie was enjoyable enough – definitely only for those that share an affiliation with lego as the comedy moments are centred around the trials and tribulations of lego crafting. I thought they could’ve played more on those and had a few adult humour moments like they do in the Pixar animations but I found it enjoyable and Stuart had a couple of LOL (while I slunk down in my seat) moments. Callum, bless him, doesn’t get on too well with the glasses, or any glasses for that matter (we went to the 3D version) which I think is down to his little nose which doesn’t have much of a bridge to hold a pair of glasses. He kept taking them off which meant he didn’t get to appreciate the full experience and he seemed to struggle to retain interest for the last half hour but he says he really enjoyed it and that it was his favourite part of the day. Sofia also said she enjoyed it but I saw her fidgeting for the last 20 minutes too. At 5 and 7, I think it is still a long time to expect them to sit still and pay attention. I think what kept Callum’s attention was the inclusion of his favourite characters, Batman, Superman and ‘The Green Ninja’.

Overall, it has been another good day. I’m still surprised at just how upbeat I am after such a miserable winter (both my mood and the weather). Like they say ‘a change is as good as a rest’. That is proving so true this week!

Tomorrow it is the family outing (Stuart and Millie included) to London to check out the Natural History Museum which, despite me thinking of it before I saw Callum’s homework book, fits in nicely with Callum’s half term homework project!

Feeding Time at the Zoo!

Making & then the eating of dinner in our house is quite a stressful part of the day for me – it’s one of the reasons I took the BLW approach as puréeing and spoonfeeding, for me, would have added to that stress tenfold. But on days like today, the BLW approach isn’t much less stressful!

It’s not that I can’t cook or don’t enjoy it (as long as it’s savoury not dessert!), I can and I do but it is at that 4pm time when the “I’m hungry” cries, start ramping up a notch from Callum (Callum is always hungry!) and the “Mmmmmm, mmmmmmm” grunts start to get more insistent and my feet & legs get battered by Millie in the walker! It’s like she thinks, if she runs me over I might start cooking faster!

Most nights I cook for the children then eat later with Stuart but if Stuart is out/away I prefer to eat with the children to encourage them to eat & so I only have to cook one meal & get more of the evening to myself.

Tonight’s dinner time went a bit like this (with only some tiny elaborations):

4:00pm: Ooh got to get dinner on,  switch oven on & pull ingredients out of fridge

4:05pm: Notice the lemonade (which is laying down) is dripping as the lid hasn’t been done up tight enough by someone (again!), pull out salad draw and find a lemonade lake! Start drying up the lake.

4:10pm: Start preparing veg. I ask Callum if he wants to shell the peas – he says no & goes upstairs to play.

4:15pm: Remember that Millie is still napping & it’s gone past the dreaded 4pm cut off time which means she’ll not go to sleep until 1-1.5 hours after her bedtime (how do those maths work?)

4:16pm: Crash! Something has broken upstairs – I suspect the tea set.

4.18pm: I can confirm it was the tea set! The one from when I was a little girl that I gave Callum to play with. Fortunately, it’s not the first time parts of it have flown across the room (either accidentally as this time was or on purpose as happened when I first entrusted him with it!) so I’m a little less heartbroken than I would’ve been. I gather up the broken bits & put to one side to attempt to glue later.

4:23pm: Get Millie out of bed (bedtime is going to be hell!)

4:25pm: Feed Millie & put her down next to lots of toys

4:30pm: Get back to cooking dinner

4:34pm: Grunts & cries from Millie – I move her to her walker

4:36pm: I get back to cooking dinner

4:45pm: Grunts & cries from Millie – I move her to her booster seat in the kitchen with me.

4:55pm: Millie has kept up some grunts but less insistent but now, every time I move a piece of food she stretches out her arm to reach for it & grunts.

5:08pm: Dish up dinner & sit down to eat. Let out a big sigh but admire my lovely looking dinner of pork fillet medallions with a cheesey mushroom sauce, hasselback potatoes and Chantilly carrots (plus home-grown peas for the kids).

5:12pm: Pick up a carrot from floor

5:13pm: Pick up a fork

5:14pm: Pick up a piece of pork (this is not me with dyspraxia, this is Millie throwing stuff she doesn’t want – typical BLW behaviour)

5:15pm: I notice Millie is trying to use her fork properly & try to help her stab a piece of pork to keep her occupied so I can enjoy a bit of my dinner

5:16pm: Get Callum a different knife

5:17pm: Save the big piece of pork from flying across the kitchen & cut it up smaller.

5:18pm: Pick up a carrot, a potato and a piece of pork from the floor

5:20pm: Pour myself some wine!

5:23pm: Duck a piece of potato, get hit by a carrot

5:25pm: Get up to get Millie a drink

5:26pm: Scrape….crash! I was too slow to react as Millie pulled her plate across the breakfast bar, it falls to the floor & does not bounce (this time). They are square plates & two of the corners have flown to different sides of the kitchen.

5:27pm: I bend down to pick up the broken bits of plate & get pieces of pork rained down on me from Millie above accompanied by hysterical Millie giggles.

5:29: While clearing up plate & food mess there is a chorus of “I’ve finished my dinner & haven’t had puuuuudiiiiiing! I’ve finished my diiinner & haven’t had puuuuudiiiiiing!” from Callum. I politely beg ask Callum to be patient while I clean up the mess.

5:31pm: I notice the pool of meat juices around the bottom of the bin & have no idea how it got there. Assuming the bin bag has split, I now empty the bin to outside bin but find all is well with the bag. It’s a mystery! Callum pipes up again “I’m not talking to you, I’m singing to myself, [sings] Iiiiiiii’ve noooot had puuuuuddddiiiiiiiiing!” (I don’t even give them pudding every night!)

5:36pm: Get a fruit pot for Callum & a yogurt for Millie and wonder why I ever decided to eat dinner with the kids – I may have even got to taste it if I had eaten separately and neither of them appreciated it!

(my only elaboration was ducking the potato to get hit by a carrot! They went straight on the floor! Everything else was as it happened!)

(an hour & a half past Millie’s bedtime & I’ve just had to go into her to find her kneeling up in bed holding onto cot sides & waving at me – I can still hear her awake on the monitor)

BLW: Trust Your Baby, Gag vs Choke

Its been over 2 weeks now since we started BLW and progress is slow but there definitely is progress.

One of the things it is difficult to get used to in the early days of BLW is trusting your child & your child’s body to do what’s right. By this, I’m talking about the risk of choking. They say as long as your baby is sitting upright and their necks are strong enough, their gag reflex should do all the work and the risk of choking is, theoretically, lower than spoon-feeding.

Being as this is my second child, it is much easier this time, reassured by the fact that Callum never choked. It was frightening the first day I gave Callum toast for breakfast. It was one of his first introductions to food and he really gagged on it and threw up an entire bottle of milk with milk coming through his nose. I fought the urge to run to him and pick him up etc, I just put on a smile said “oh dear” and…..er….took a photo! (Only after I knew he was ok! You’re saved, I’ve not got the photo which came after on this computer but below is the one just before!!)

                     
     Callum eating toast                                                                                 Millie eating toast

I was a little hesitant to offer Millie toast at first, but she gagged and puked on banana and other stuff so I plucked up the courage to offer it to her and she was absolutely fine, no puke! In fact, its one of her favourite foods that she’ll happily gum for ages. There is even evidence in that fabulous game we now play “Identify that Food in the Poop” (yes, we know how to have fun in this house!) that she has swallowed some of the toast – tell tale black/brown flecks.

If you do trust your little ones and they are safely positioned, it is highly probable that they will gag in the first few days/weeks. Their gag reflexes are so sensitive and they also have a tongue-thrust reflex which pushes objects to the front of their mouth. Amazing what our human bodies do and that babies are born with these reflexes to protect them from choking. As babies learn to have more control over their tongue, the tongue-thrust reflex will relax, soften, whatever the correct terminology is. I’m already witnessing an improvement with Millie’s tongue control skills. She wont always just let the food fall out of her mouth or her tongue doesn’t always push it out, sometimes she manages to purposefully control her tongue to push the food back and swallow. There may be a bit of a tongue-food tussle first but, occasionally, Millie will win.

It really helped to be told that gagging is a natural reflex action to having food in their mouth….and therefore it is also natural for them to be sick. Also that if they are coughing, they are breathing and therefore they are NOT choking. If they are coughing or gagging, do not pick them up and hit them on the back, let their mouths and bodies clear the food on its own. If you are unsure, Google the difference between gagging and choking. There are some YouTube vids of babies gagging to show you what’s ok. This site was also quite helpful.

This all said, I would also advise any parent, when they are approaching the weaning stage, to do a child’s First Aid course or to remind themselves of what action to take if you’ve already done one, just for peace of mind, whether you are puréeing or doing BLW. Saying they are unlikely to choke is different to saying they wont choke and it is better to be safe and to know what to do just in case. It will also help you to relax about it and just trust them to get on with it.

Now back to Millie – strangely, she does seem to be a bit slower to grasp feeding/weaning/eating than Callum. Callum was able to use his doidy cup a lot earlier than Millie – Millie’s hand control is still a bit erratic so she just throws the water over herself. Same with a shot glass (so wrong but works….don’t worry, it only contains water!!). Even in her TommieTippee Cup she picks it up sideways and bites the edge. She does love water though. The first few times she was offered water, it cascaded out of her mouth in a waterfall affect but she’d grab for more and more. Now she manages to swallow.

This week, new stuff I’ve tried:

Butternut Squash Risotto – great fun to play with but not much consuming
Houmous – not really a fan and doesn’t understand dipping yet
Chips – I know, naughty, but once in a while wont hurt. Unsurprisingly she liked it!
Celery – had a really good suck on that
Prawn – ignored
Roast carrot (may have tried that last week) – not fussed
Roast onion – thought she liked it at first but then couldn’t get it out of her mouth quick enough
Yorkshire Pud – liked

A firm favourite which she had previously tried is definitely red pepper.

One thing I’m really enjoying is my renewed enthusiasm to cook real homemade meals again for Callum (and Millie). I had got a bit lazy with my having to cook 2 meals a day firstly for Callum and then for Stuart and I later. But now I’m making homemade versions of the favourites like chicken nuggets (and homemade chips) and also things like vegetable croquettes, the butternut squash risotto, beef casseroles. I’ve a fish pie pack in the freezer at the ready and looking forward to making fish fingers and/or fish cakes again. So easy to make but haven’t really done it since Callum was little (well, a baby/toddler, he is still little).

I did make lots of dinners from scratch and we did eat fresh food regularly but where I’d sometimes reach for the premade frozen fish fingers or nuggets, I’m now making my own and trying new recipes again.

This has stretched to when we have guests come and stay too, I’m wanting to cook new things rather than stick to the old faithfuls, shop bought or take-away.

Now to finish on a couple more photos of Millie for you:

1. Pear; 2a. Bite; 2b. Spit out; 2c. Bite

3. Enjoying a Red Pepper from a prawn salad

4. Mmmm like this asparagus in my roast dinner

Baking with a 3 year old

Created from a combination of cooking experiences with my 3 year old!

1. Get 3 year old exciting about cooking
2. Get out cookbooks to look up recipes
3. Find a recipe for biscuits
4. Go to get ingredients ready
5. Realise you don’t have right ingredients/enough quantity
6. (at this point, you could go ahead and make biscuits but to a fewer quantity than recipe adjusting the ingredients but, in my experience, this never works! I’ve tried several times)
7. Look up a new recipe.
8. 7 recipes later…child is looking bored and losing interest in baking
9. Find a cake recipe
10. Get ingredients ready
11. Give 3 year old eggs to break in bowl
12. Me: “A little harder…a little harder….NOT THAT HARD”
13. Fish out bits of egg shell and clear up egg from worktop
14. Say calmly to 3 year old “No don’t eat the egg, you mustn’t put your fingers in it”
15. Weigh out caster sugar
16. Me: “Stop putting your fingers in the egg”
17. Add sugar to egg
18. A little less calm “stop putting your fingers in, stop trying to eat it!”
19. Turn on mixer, 3 year old insists on holding it and turns it up to full power
20. Wipe egg & sugar mix off your face, 3 year old’s face, work surfaces and walls
21. Try the mixing again ensuring 3 year old’s fingers are well away from controls yet still holding the mixer
22. 3yo: “Is it done now” Me: “not yet, bit longer” (repeat times 30)
23. Weigh out and sieve flour
24. Child insists on holding the sieve and shaking it vigorously
25. End up looking like 2 snowmen
26. Wipe off as much of the flour as possible and add in a little extra to make up for what was lost
27. Turn back for a second to put sieve away, turn back to see toddler eating mixture
28. Slightly more raised voice “Stop eating it, leave it alone”
29. Fold in flour
30. Child adds in another spoon of unsieved flour while you are distracted with the folding
31. Child shakes in salt that you left out from gathering biscuit ingredients at step 4
32. Getting a little stressed “NOOOO, we don’t need salt in this recipe”
33. 3yo: “but I want salt”, Me (through gritted teeth): “no, this recipe doesn’t use salt, it wont taste very nice”
34. Wrestle salt off child as he is trying to add more salt
35. Go to get out cake tins – realise part of the tin you need is elsewhere after making a cake and taking it to a relative/friend a year ago
36. Make do with 2 slightly too big cake tins instead
37. [Shouting] “STOP EATING THE CAKE MIX, you can lick the bowl and spoon in a minute!!!”
38. Distribute mix between tins
39. Go to put tins in oven
40. Realise oven isn’t on
41. Set oven to required temp and wait
42. and wait
43. 3 year old starts shaking flour packet
44. You don’t clear it up and resign yourself to the pasty white look!
45. You DO put away ingredient packets you no longer need
46. Oven heats up and you place tins in oven
47. 3yo: “Is it ready yet?” Me “No, I’ve just put it in the oven”, 3yo:”I want cake, mummy, I want cake…Mummy, is it ready now, I want cake…can I have cake now?” Me: “NO, Not until the beeper goes off and when its cool”
48. Get ingredients ready for butter icing – remember from when you went to get ingredients for biscuits at step 4 that you didn’t have enough butter – still don’t have enough butter – use clover!
49. Help child sieve icing & cocoa powder into butter
50. Clearly having not learned from last time – end up now a white and brown marbled snowman!
51. Wrestle fork off child who starts stirring mixture before there is no dry mix left in the butter
52. Beeper goes off for cake, tip out the crispy biscuits (meant to be cake) onto cooling wire
53. “Mummy, I want to see cake, I can’t see cake, Mummy where’s cake, I want to see”
54. Once biscuit/cake cooled, spoon on mix
55. Poor yourself LARGE glass of wine, break off 2 bits of biscuit/cake, sod the cleaning, sit down and consume
56. Go to answer doorbell and wonder why the gas man gives you a peculiar look!