Strawberries

As Mason's first birthday quickly approaches, I am trying out all the "careful" foods: eggs, berries, whole milk, fish, nuts.  He has eggs and dairy down.  Now to try strawberries.  He is a blueberry fanatic.  Raspberries and blackberries have also made it down the hatch without a problem.

I use the three day rule.  Try a new food three days in a row to see if there are any allergenic effects.   I also use organic where I can.  The first day I gave Mason cut up strawberries.  He chewed on it briefly but didn't seem too impressed.  Day two I pureed blackberries and strawberries with vanilla whole yogurt in a food processor.

The previous night I made cornbread to go with some turkey chili, so I spread this yummy paste on the leftover cornbread.  I also gave him some with butter on a couple other pieces for variety.  Butter is good for babies.  They actually need the saturated fats for their growing bodies.  We, on the other hand, should stay away from saturated fats.  

The result: success!  Mason gobbled up the cornbread slices.  Later I found him standing in the fridge grabbing the blackberries and strawberries out for an afternoon snack.   Tomorrow, day three, I will use the left over puree on either toast or just spoon feed the thick, yummy mixture to him.  Or, just feed him cut up strawberries since now he seems to love them almost as much as blueberries.  

A well used cookbook

I guess you know when you have found a good cookbook because stains magically appear and pages mysteriously start to ripple.  I have a couple of cookbooks that show signs of use.  But the one I am most excited about is my Cooking for Baby cookbook by Lisa Barnes.

When Mason turned six months I decided to make most of his baby food.  Better for his tummy and better for my wallet.  I found lots of discrepancies about how to make food online, and I wanted something to just tell me how to do it without having to weed through a million websites and blogs.

So I found this cookbook.  It has been amazing.  It lists what foods to start when and how to make them. From making pureed peas to tabbouleh.  This manuel has something for everybody.  It showcases  wholesome, homemade, delicious foods for six to 18 months.

Water has been spilled, butter melted and pages ripped of this handy, easy to follow guide.  I simply love it and every battle scar it holds.  So if you need some know-how or inspiration on what to make your child, this is the cookbook to buy.

Leap Year

Crap.

I missed it. It only comes once every four years, and I forgot to write my post.  Guess I was too busy just living every day life.

Here are a few fun facts about leap year:

It actually takes 365.242 days for the earth to rotate around the sun. So to keep winter in January we add an extra day to our calendar every four years.  There is a slight discrepancy with the actual solar year, so leap year is omitted three times every four hundred years.  This is way more complicated than I ever imagined!  It gets more complicated, and honestly, I lost interest in the details.  So I will only tell you the good stuff.

The chances of being born on leap year are one in 1,461.  They have a special club called the Honor Society for Leap Day Babies and a website.  Hmmm...interesting.  Glad I wasn't born on February 29.

Leap Day got me thinking about the last leap year.  It was uneventful.  Trying to remember....oh yeah.  2008.  My husband was about to find out what type of helicopter he would fly and if we would be East Coast or West Coast residents.  Huh.  That was a little stressful.  Maybe we had already found out.  It's a little foggy.  Maybe we were on our way across country to our new home in sunny, California.  Again, foggy.  Four years is a long time.

My, how much has changed in four years.  We purchased our first home. We traveled abroad.  We had our first baby. Plus, all the other significant things that happened in-between.

What about you?  Where were you last leap year?

And...where will we be next leap year?!