What Charlotte eats, 4

Charlotte is really getting the hang of drinking water from her little glass. She still spills sometimes, but I think that's usually because she's done eating and wants to play with Joel. When she drinks from her glass at lunch, she's much more focused on has a better handle on holding it carefully. 

I've been looking at water bottles on Amazon lately because my friend Melissa pointed out that it's not really feasible to carry shot glasses everywhere we go, so Charlotte will eventually need something to drink from when she's no longer nursing. I finally decided on a small version of the Nalgene bottles Joel and I use. Charlotte's is pink; I also ordered a splash guard, in hopes that having it slow the flow/splash of water will make it easier for her to drink water without spilling. We shall see :) 

People have asked me if Charlotte likes some foods more than others, and I'm finding that a tricky question to answer. We haven't found anything she totally refuses to eat but she definitely inhales a food one day, then shows little interest in the same food a few days later. Specifically, I have noticed this happening with egg: she sort of played with scrambled egg one morning for breakfast, but then ate the leftovers for dinner that evening. I think it probably depends on how hungry she is. I also noticed that she likes food in one form, but not necessarily in another. For example, she will DEVOUR butternut squash soup, but when I roasted chunks of butternut squash with a bit of curry powder, she wasn't really interested.

I am really really really hoping that introducing solids this way will curb the picky-toddler tendencies that are sure to come. However, I think food preferences are a normal part of growing and learning, so we will do our best to roll with them in the future.

Here are some things Charlotte's been eating lately:
Sunday- mandarin slices, pizza crust, guacamole, black bean paste, roasted sweet potatoes, cucumber slices

Monday- almond butter on toast, celery sticks dipped in hummus (she only ate the hummus), steamed broccoli

Tuesday- chicken sausage (cut into tiny pieces), cauliflower, string cheese

Wednesday- whole wheat rotini, peas, spinach, eggplant parmesan

Thursday- black beans, guacamole, banana, 2 raspberries, chicken pieces, sweet potatoes, peas

Friday- shredded cheddar, black beans, peas, taco chicken (shredded), French toast (without butter or syrup), fried egg with mozzarella cheese

Everlane

This is not a post about growing baby 'Berts, just a shameless plug to promote a brand I like.

My friend gave me a lovely, soft V-neck T-shirt from Everlane for my (30th!) birthday last month and I'm so very impressed with it. The quality is excellent, the color is exactly how it looked online, and I can't believe how well it's holding up to frequent washings (and even the occasional drying in the dryer, which I try to avoid! oops!).

I would LOVE for you to find something on Everlane that you could wear over and over, for years to come.

I'd love even more for you to purchase using my referral link here, so I can get company credit for more amazing T-shirts. And maybe for this beautiful sweater that keeps going out of stock...

Two tiny bruises

When we changed Charlotte's diaper yesterday, we noticed two tiny bruises on her left knee.

She often has little scratches on her face and has already sported quite a few bumps on her soft baby noggin.

We are quickly realizing that injuries come with the baby-raising territory, especially once the baby becomes mobile. Charlotte is crawling and standing and "walking" with help nowadays, and she is regularly falling over or running into something. 

I can't believe how much my heart breaks when she looks at me and cries those crocodile tears of pain. It's awful to witness, even as I hug and cuddle and whisper comforting words into her little ears. "You are going to be fine. I love you so much. I'm proud of you. You are working hard and sometimes hard workers get hurt. You are a strong, brave girl. Jesus loves you. I love you so much." 

Even more burdensome than those sad, salty tears is the wave of anguish that covers me as I think about the future... How much worse the pain will be when she falls off a swing or gets hit with a ball or breaks a bone. How she will ache when losing a friend or being bullied at school or moving away from her neighborhood. How I won't be able to protect her from loss or grief or fear. How many times I won't even be able to comfort her as she cries. The pain of that reality slays me.

The Hope for her future, though, is the reality of Jesus. I can do my absolute best to keep her safe and snuggle her close and nurture her heart and raise her well. But then I've got to surrender and rest in the knowledge of the Hope I have been given. She is loved by Someone more loving, knowing, and powerful than I. Thanks be to God. 

Cooking and food prep// BLW style

Phew.

Prepping meals for a family of three feels much harder than it did for just two of us!! Partially, a newly crawling baby is to blame, because it's hard to cook while she is underfoot (but I totally love it!). In addition, the more research I do about feeding a baby, the more compelled I am to make things from scratch that are healthy, nutrient-rich, and low in sodium and sugar.

I had NO idea how much salt is in pre-packaged foods! We were eating jarred spaghetti sauce two or three times a week. It's cheap and easy and fast. But holy smokes, there is a lot of salt in there! Fortunately, my baby led weaning cookbook has a great recipe for salt free pasta sauce. Unfortunately, it's quite a bit more time consuming and labor-intensive than just opening a jar and pouring it out. Overall, though, the taste of homemade, salt-less sauce is delicious and it's really not that much work so I'm going to make big batches and keep them in freezer. 

Another thing I've been trying to make from scratch, in order to health-ify our diet, is chicken stock. I use chicken stock (or broth, whatever) for a LOT of recipes... Chicken tacos, chicken soup, tortilla soup, etc. etc. etc. Anyway, chicken broth isn't cheap and it tends to have a lot of sodium. Here's the recipe I used for the first time last week. 

I've also been cutting the sugar in things like my beloved baked oatmeal and other baked goods (biscuits, bread, etc.). We still eat our fair share of cookies and leftover Halloween candy, but we try to do it after Charlotte goes to bed so she doesn't see her parents' bad examples :)

Our diet was pretty healthy overall, but since Charlotte started eating solid foods I have been way more conscious of the amounts of fruits and vegetables that we provide. So far she hasn't been picky so we can pump her full of lots of green veggies, fresh fruit, and seasonal produce. Why can't apples and avocados be in season year round? 

A lot of meal prep is done during Charlotte's afternoon nap. I can slice veggies, or prep pasta sauce, make a salad, or roast potatoes. It's also really helpful that Joel often gets home in time to play with Charlotte while I finish any other dinner prep. 

I've noticed myself feeling sort of stumped for breakfast and healthy snack ideas.
What do your kids like to eat for breakfast? What nutritious things do they snack on?

P.S. Isn't my little kitchen helper the absolute cutest?! 

What Charlotte eats, 3

One tricky thing I'm not sure how to navigate... Charlotte doesn't know how to use silverware and really doesn't like to try. Since we're not usually feeding her, she's not used to the feeling of a spoon or fork in her mouth and seems to recoil at the taste of silverware (especially metal!).  At what point should kids learn to use forks and spoons themselves? Is just watching us use silverware enough of a model?

Anyway, Charlotte has tried some fun foods lately:

Monday- Greek yogurt, apple slices, steamed baby carrots, eggs, lemon poppy seed pancakes

Tuesday- pieces of ham, provolone, banana, lettuce (which she didn't eat! ha!)

Wednesday-kiwi strips for breakfast, one slice of quesadilla + the fixings* for dinner

Thursday- black beans, provolone, broccoli, guacamole

Friday- cucumber, vanilla yogurt, Annie's Mac and cheese, tomato, broccoli

Saturday- cheddar cheese, stewed tomatoes, black beans,avocado, green pepper chunks, chicken (all the fixings from tortilla soup, which we ate in a bowl with broth and spoon, but Charlotte ate in chunks on her tray)

*Basically, I was being selfish with my quesadilla... I didn't want to share, so I just put dabs of all the fixings on Charlotte's tray and she went to town: shredded chicken, black beans, 2 small pieces of scallion, tomato slices, and guacamole. She is her momma's daughter-- loves her some guac!

And here she is using her little glass. SO cute!