Go Bananas!

I asked Jack if he wanted to tell you all about bananas, but he said I should just go ahead. He had a late night last night and is pretty tired. (The late night is our fault, not his. We brought him to a little get together at a friend's house, and let's just say it got a little out of hand...) Anyway, bananas went over almost exactly the same as peas. The first time we tried them, he didn't so much like them. Second time was the charm, though. He gobbled them up faster than he eats his peas! And let me tell you, that boy loves those peas! One of these days, we'll find something he likes the first time.

Bananas are super-simple to make, though. I don't know why anyone would spend money on banana puree. Seriously, if you happen to have a ripe banana, all you do is nuke it for 20 seconds to soften it up a little, put about a third of it in a bowl, and mash it with a fork. That's it. That's all. There is no more. Just feed the child the piece of ripe banana. It's cheap and easy. (That's what she said! Is that not appropriate for a child's blog?)

We've also started giving Jack a little water in a cup. We tried the Playtex sippy cup, but it is supposedly leak-proof, which basically means he has to work hard for it. He wasn't a fan. For some reason, he will NOT take water out of a bottle, but put it in a cup and he gulps it down. The more it looks like Mommy's water the better. So, we went for the toddler sippy cups. He makes a complete mess, but he has a grand old time doing it. Luckily, its just water. When we start juice, he may have to just suck it up and get used to those leak-proof sippy cups. ;-)

For anyone who cares, here is how to make mass quantities (about 3 cups) of banana puree. Contrary to popular belief, they can be frozen.





Mashed Nanas


Ingredients:


5 ripe bananas


3 oz breastmilk (or formula!)


3 T lemon juice

Directions


1. Microwave bananas for 20 seconds to soften them up (optional).


2. Place bananas and breastmilk in blender and puree until smooth.


3. Add 1 T lemon juice per cup of puree (should be about 3 cups), and stir thoroughly.


4. Freeze in ice cube trays. The lemon juice should keep the bananas from getting too brown. They might get a little brown, but brown is ok to eat. When you defrost them, if they need to be a little thicker, add a little rice cereal.

Peek-a-Boo?

So Mom has been doing this thing for a while that I think she calls Peek-a-Boo. Have you heard of it? She disappears for a second or two, and then magically reappers and shouts "Boo!" and starts laughing. She does it over and over, and frankly I was never really sure why she thought it was so funny. Sometimes I'd smile because she's so silly, but I wasn't really all that amused. But I have to tell you, she must have worn me down or something because when she did it today I definitely had to laugh. I still think she's just silly, but the disappearing/reappearing thing is a pretty cool trick. I admit, it's always a little scary when she disappears like that, but she always comes back, so it's ok. I don't know, though. She may just be crazy. Anybody else out there have a mom as nuts as mine?

Happy 5 Month Birthday To Me!

Hi Everybody! I'm 5 months old today! I think I like being 5 months old. Now I can sit all by myself and roll over and over to get to where I want to be instead of just where Mommy puts me! I have even figured out that if I can just get my butt up in the air, I can push myself forward, too. It works even better when I can get my knees underneath me, but that is a lot harder to do. Also, I've changed my mind. Despite what I thought yesterday, peas are NOT yucky! They are actually pretty yummy. They are so yummy that I made Mommy give me 3 helpings for breakfast today. I just couldn't get enough! I don't know what my problem was yesterday. Maybe it was Daddy waking me up at that ungodly hour of 9:15, or all the cameras Mommy and Daddy had set up, or a combination of the two perhaps. Whatever it was, those peas did NOT taste like that yesterday! I'm so happy Mommy made me try them again.

Give Peas A Chance

Peas are so yucky! I tried them, I did. And at first they weren't so bad, you know? I mean, they were a little different, but I could handle it. But then, as I kept eating, I don't know, they just got yucky! I started gagging and coughing and I couldn't keep my face from doing funny things. I was even shaking they were so yucky! And the worst part was that Mommy just kept laughing at me! What kind of Mommy does that?? I'm so mad I have to take a nap.
Yeah, it's true. I'm mean. I laughed as he sat there gagging and shuddering at the awfulness of the peas. He did give them a chance, though. He had 4 or 5 bites before they got to him. I do feel kind of bad for laughing. It reminded me almost exactly of my last encounter with eggplant. It started out ok, but after a few bites I was sure I was going to throw up. So, I stopped torturing him. What he doesn't know is that this isn't over. We're going to try Dr. Alan Greene's method. He says you have to feed the detested food as the first bite for 10 days in a row. When they start spitting it out and not taking any more, switch to something they do like. After 10 days, 85% of pea-haters in his study had become pea-lovers! So, we'll see. I would like to point out that, while I too detest peas, these peas really weren't that bad. I've tasted jarred baby food peas (at my baby shower, thank you Sarah) and they are pretty awful. I made these myself, though. And honestly, these had a nice sweetness to them. So maybe it'll get better.



Whirled Peas

32 oz bag frozen peas

5 oz (fresh- not frozen!) breast milk

water

ice bath



Directions:
1. Cook peas in the microwave in two batches as per package instructions. I cooked half the bag with 1/4 cup water for 7 minutes.

2. Reserving cooking liquid, pour peas into fine mesh strainer and plunge immediately into ice bath. This makes a smoother puree, allows anything that shouldn't be there to float to the top (like pea pods), and kind of washes off any excess salt that was added in the freezing process.

3. Blend the peas to a fine puree using the cooking liquid and breastmilk to help thin the puree. It works best to start with just half the first batch of peas and gradually add the rest.

4. Pour puree back into fine mesh strainer over a large bowl. Stir to force puree through the mesh to remove all the skins. Once you're left with mostly skins, give what is in the bowl a nice stir. Dish out whatever you will use fresh, and then freeze the rest. This makes lots.

Welcome!

Mommy and I decided we need a better way to keep in touch with all of our family and friends, and this seemed like the perfect way! We decided that this would be my blog, but mommy would help me out and be allowed to contribute whenever she wants to. We probably should have done this sooner since I'm already just about 5 months old, but we've been pretty busy. Anyway, Mommy wants to say a few words now.

So, considering the fact that most of the people we care about live many hours away, we should have done this a lot sooner. In my defense, I point to the fact that no self-respecting, brand-new Mom has time for such silly things as brushing her teeth much less blogging. But in the last month or so, Jack has decided that his day needs a bit of structure - a schedule if you will. So now, at least on good days, I get two solid naps out of him which leaves me time for silly things like teeth brushing and blogging. Well, as long as I ignore the piles of dishes and mountains of laundry. :)
Anyway, this is just a little welcome to my and Jackson's world. The real fun begins tomorrow when we start peas! I am so excited! I don't really like peas, but I am going to get so much satisfaction out of inflicting them on my son. Why? Because I'm the Mommy and I can, that's why! Do I need any other reason? He even has a t-shirt that I bought while I was still very pregnant in anticipation of this day. It is really cute. It says, "All Mom is saying is give peas a chance." I can't wait to see what happens!

Alright, well, that's all for right now. We'll let you know how the peas go. Mommy swears that I'll like them, but I'm not so sure.