Macaroni and Cheese

For those of you who knew me, Cara and Ilana growing up, you knew our favorite food was macaroni and cheese. Our favorite version was Granny's - a homemade combination that, no matter how hard I try, I cannot replicate. Last Friday my grandparents came to visit for the day and it inspired me to give Tali mac and cheese for the first time (technically, it's ditalini with butter and cheese). She loved it! She is my daughter, after all.

Peek A Boo!

Like all babies, Tali loves peek a boo. It makes her laugh when I hide behind her favorite blanket. But even more fun than seeing Mommy disappear and reappear is doing it herself. After about three or four times of me hiding behind the blanket, Tali reaches for the blanket and is ready to be the hider. Where's Tali? Peek a boo!

Music

If you know my husband, you know that when he decides to do something, he becomes completely focused on that project. Last weekend, H decided to update Tali's music collection. Tali loves music so this was a great project for him to take on. In one weekend he added approximately 100 Jewish songs to her iPod. So all week we've been singing and dancing to Jewish music in the house. Tali's had a great time and I've had a lot of fun listening to songs I haven't heard in years.

In addition to the Jewish music, H also added the Barenaked Ladies kids album - Snacktime -  and put it on a CD for me to play in the car. (If I had to listen to the CD from her music class one more time I might have just driven into traffic.) This CD is hysterical! It's typical of the group - lots of word play and humor. Honestly, I think the songs were mostly written for adults who couldn't bear to listen to another kids CD. If you have kids, I highly recommend this album. Actually, I have quite a few kid-less friends who would love this album too (Ilana, Paige - I'm talking to the two of you). There are 24 songs on the album, ranging from a love ballad to the eraser to a song about raisins. (Can you link raisins to Canada in one verse? They can!) The CD is so much fun that I caught myself listening to it when Tali wasn't even in the car. I have one more week before Tali's music class begins again and we get a new CD. Until then, I'll be singing along to the Barenaked Ladies. Thanks, guys!

Turkey

Back at the end of July, Tali tried avocado for the first time and didn't like it. However, after a few days she got used to it and she now loves it. Unfortunately, I don't think the same thing will happen with turkey. I've been giving Tali turkey for 2-3 weeks now and she hasn't yet developed a taste for it. I first cooked it with some vegetables and then pureed it. She would only eat a few bites each time I fed it to her. Then when she went on her spoon strike I made turkey meatballs. After one bite (per meal), she'd refuse to eat anymore. If I tried to mix it with pasta, she'd eat around it and gag when she accidentally put a piece in her mouth. So tonight I steamed and pureed some peas and yams and mixed in tiny pieces of the turkey meatball. Success! She ate some turkey! I am not a fan of hiding things in food, but if that's what gets her through this turkey then that's what I will do. Once I'm done with the turkey I've made, I will stay away for a while and see if her tastes change in a few months.

The Strike Is Over!

Hooray! Tali's spoon strike has ended. Well, mostly ended. The way it now works is that she gets finger food first and then I can feed her with a spoon. I'm glad that she'll take the spoon again because there are many foods she's just not ready to feed to herself. But, during the strike I discovered new finger foods for her. She loves feeding herself blueberries (quartered so that she doesn't choke), bread, bananas, shredded cheese, avocado, cantaloup and more. Yesterday I made turkey meatballs for her and cut it up into tiny pieces for her dinner. She ate a little of it but didn't love it. I served it with ditalini pasta but she just wasn't so into it.  Since it usually takes her a few days to like a new meat, I'll keep going. I thought the meatball tasted pretty good (I was hungry, I ate her leftovers) so hopefully she'll grow to like it. 

She's on Strike

Tali's been on a spoon strike since Sunday and is refusing to let a spoon get anywhere near her mouth. She does one of three things (or sometimes all three at once) when I bring a spoon to her mouth: turns her head away, seals her mouth shut, cries. After two days of this I did a bit of reading to see if it was normal and, luckily, it is. This is Tali's way of asserting her independence and it normally happens between 8-10 months (she wasted no time - one week into her eighth month). The strange part is, her mind is ahead of her body/skills on this one because she's not really ready for finger foods. The signs that she's ready include: crawling (nope), pulling herself up (nope), using her jaw to mash food (not strong enough yet but she tries) and has mastered the pincer grasp (sometimes, but not always). Despite not showing any of the signs that she's ready to move on, she is.

So for the past three days all of her meals have been finger foods. She's had banana, avocado, mango, cooked apples and pears, bread, etc. - all cut into small pieces. Today I am going to be brave and let her spoon feed herself. This will be messy - Jackson will love it. I am also going to make some turkey meatballs (full of veggie purees as a substitute for eggs) so that she can get some protein. And, I'll start her on shredded cheese. I'm on the fence about giving her tofu. There's both good and bad information about soy for babies and I have not yet decided what is best for her. The more I think about it, the more I come up with foods to make for her. This won't be so bad. In fact, it might be easier than pureeing food. It's definitely more fun.

Going Nuts

As part of Tali's bedtime routine, she spends a few minutes in her Jumperoo while I prepare her bath. She's usually in there for about five minutes but last night she was having such a blast that I let her bounce around for 15 minutes. Tali was jumping so hard that I was afraid the whole thing would break. Luckily, Fisher Price makes good toys. She was so funny in there that I had to take some video. Pay particular attention to her feet - she jumps like a dancer (Jennifer - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!). When I finally pulled her out (not because she was finished, but because her bath was getting cold!), she wasn't even out of breath. It's 8:15 at night, most babies her age are asleep and she's jumping her little heart out. 

Stacking Rings

What a difference a week makes! When I gave Tali stacking rings a week ago, she gently removed the top one (red) and placed it in her mouth. When done, she gently placed it down then took the next one (orange) and so on. She played in a very polite, girly way. Two days ago, this is how she played with the rings.

Bad Mom - Nap Time

It's been a while since I've done a Bad Mom entry and I'm definitely past due. Today I decided to take Tali on two errands during her awake time but while at the first, I noticed she was getting sleepy. So instead of taking her to the second errand, I decided it was best to bring her home so wouldn't be cranky and she could get a good nap. Unfortunately, Tali fell asleep in the car and when we got home I had to wake her to bring her upstairs to her crib. I got her up as quickly as I could but it was too late. She was already awake and crying. I left her room quickly, hoping she'd fall back asleep. No such luck. She cried for 30 minutes and threw two pacifiers out of the crib before I went in to get her. I took her out, calmed her down and read to her then put her back in her crib. Crying again. She finally fell asleep an hour after she normally goes down for her nap. 

You may be wondering where the Bad Mom is in all of this. Well, as I was trying to figure out why she was so tired that she fell asleep in the car (we arrived home 4 minutes after her normal nap time), I realized that she woke up 30 minutes early from her morning nap. So I should have been prepared for her to be tired at 1:00 instead of 1:30 (which she was). Had I properly anticipated her needs, we could have been home at 1:00 and she would have gone to sleep without an hour of crying. Yup, I feel like an idiot.

What Was That For?

Last night, Tali woke up around 1:15 and started screaming, not crying - screaming bloody murder. I let her scream for 15 minutes and since she wasn't calming down I went in to see what was wrong. (Lucky for me, I am the only one who can calm her when she wakes up like that so it's not even worth H getting out of bed - he's tried before.) No fever, no dirty diaper, no spit-up, she just needed her mommy. As soon as I picked her up, she stopped. It took her about eight minutes to fully catch her breath and calm down and then I put her back down. After that she went back to sleep. I, of course, laid awake for an hour waiting to see if she woke up again. She didn't.  Since I don't know what the problem was, I am going to guess it was teething-related. I am so not a fan of this teething thing and she doesn't even have teeth yet! Does this really go on for two years? Will I ever get some sleep?