Author: Marie Haigh

We live in a world where you can buy just about any fruit or vegetable all year round. It’s no longer necessary to know when certain produce is locally being harvested.

Although I try to be cognizant of what produce is on sale, I live like most people – unconcerned if something is out of season.

There are a few exceptions: fresh blueberries, fresh tomatoes, apples and pumpkins. I only buy fresh blueberries when they are being harvested in NJ. Price is a major factor as is taste. Fresh tomatoes are easier to explain; that’s what my garden is for.

Though you won’t find pumpkins in my garden (they hog up too much space), I only buy them in October. The selection can’t be beaten. No other time will you find such a variety. And after making fresh pumpkin puree a few years ago from butternut squash – not pumpkin -, I can’t bring myself to buy the canned stuff. It just doesn’t hold a candle to fresh puree. Besides, there is no need to buy canned puree. I typically have enough fresh puree left over to freeze several containers of it.

So why don’t I eat apples any other month besides October? It doesn’t make any sense, I suppose. Neither selection or price is an issue. Maybe it’s because I overdose on the fruit, cooking and baking it into every possible dinner and dessert. By the end of the month, I don’t want to look at another apple for a very long time.

Because of my silly produce “rules”, Elly finally got to taste her 1st apple this weekend. She was thrilled with the experience.

Elly is 8 months old today. She is growing up so fast!

Despite not whole-heartedly embracing solid food, Elly remains off the charts in weight. At 25 lbs, she has outgrown all her clothes labeled 12-months or smaller.

On the other hand, I struggle to keep Elly from trying to eat everything that isn’t food. Why she just loves to try and eat leaves.

She is constantly trying to pull herself up and “cruise” (walk while holding tight to somebody or something) around.

Yet, she has no interest in crawling. Every once in a while, she fools us into thinking she is going to crawl. She poses herself perfectly on all fours. Then, she moves one hand forward and pushes her knees out, landing flat on her belly. If she really wants something, she might drag herself along the floor just using her arms. More often, she cries about being on her tummy until Dan or I help her up.

One of her favorite new toys is an activity desk.

She is able to pull herself up by just grabbing an edge. It’s the perfect height for her to hold onto or to lean on. Though all the buttons make noise, she spends most of her time just turning the page in the book back and forth.

Elly adores Jake. Her face lights up when he walks into the room. The feeling is mutual.

Jake is pretty thrilled to have Elly around too despite getting fistfuls of hair pulled out on occasion. You see, Jake loves cleaning up after Elly’s spills during mealtime.

This is a post from Knitted Gem’s blog, authored by Marie Haigh.

Beginning this week, Elly has decided that she is no longer going to eat any of the pureed vegetables or fruits that I made for her. She only wants bread or bread-based products.

Pizza crust?

You betcha.

Cheerios and Goldfish?
Oh, boy!

So naturally, I just had to bake Elly her own loaf of bread.

No daughter of mine will be eating Wonder Bread.

I’m pleased to say it was a hit.

Yet, I haven’t given up on getting Elly to eat her vegetables. Instead I’ve tried the sneak attack: spreading pureed veggies on her bread. It seems sad that I already have to bribe/deceive Elly into eating a balanced diet. I thought that battle was months away.

Elly took her first ride on the park swing yesterday ….

and loved it!

She was not quite as thrilled with the couscous despite having a blast getting it into every nook and cranny, including her ears.

Why I gave her a bowl filled with it is beyond me.

Silly Mommy. Would you eat borning cereal when there are peaches to be had?

mmmmm peaches.

Perhaps because of the complications I had with breastfeeding coupled with the fact that I have been blessed with a child who likes to eat a lot, I assumed that Elly would jump at the chance to eat pureed foods. Surely, I was the one holding her back. Instead I have gotten looks from Elly ranging from complete horror to utter confusion.

The irony of it all is that I struggled with the decision of starting Elly on solids before she turned 6 months. It tortured me for days. The pros were based mostly on the fact that I love food and I was giddy to start cooking for her. The cons were twofold: 1 the AAP among other organizations recommend nursing exclusively for 6 months if possible and 2 pride held my hand. You see Elly’s pediatrician had told me that I wouldn’t be able to nurse Elly exclusively for 6 months because Elly was such a big baby and would require supplements in order to get enough to eat. Hogwash I said. It flies in the face of the law of supply and demand, which breastfeeding is based on. At all previous times when Elly demanded more to eat, my body simply supplied more. No reason to believe it wouldn’t continue to do so. Besides, have you seen Elly lately? Does she look like she’s starving?

My dilemma was all for naught. Elly is going to drag me over the 6-month mark and force me to simply stockpile all the pureed foods I’ve made for her into the freezer. It’s a good thing we have a 2nd freezer in the basement.

My MIL has promised me that Elly won’t remain on a liquid diet forever. By the time she goes to kindergarten, she will be eating solids. Of course, I was hoping for a bit earlier than that. One thing is for certain, we will be doing this at Elly’s pace. I am not in control.

Update: Yesterday after writing this up, I tried feeding Elly “watered down” oatmeal, which is to say oatmeal mixed with breastmilk until made runny. The verdict: she didn’t hate it! The look of ‘what are you putting in my mouth?’ was replaced with delight. Unfortunately, she didn’t know exactly what to do with it after that point and ended up spitting the majority of it back out. But, it was progress.

PS. You’ll forgive me for not getting an action shot of Elly eating. Things get very messy and sticky quickly. Heck, even I wear an apron to help save my clothes. All action shots will have to wait until the weekend when Dan is home to watch/help.