Archive for July 18th, 2008

18 Jul

First bites: Adventures in self-feeding

Posted by Rebecca in Olivia.

We recently started giving Olivia little bits of food to feed herself, not necessarily because we felt she was ready, but because we can’t seem to feed her fast enough. So, this gives her something to do while we prepare the next bite. And, fortunately, she does actually seem to do pretty well.

When Ava started to self-feed around nine months, she’d pick up one tiny Cheerio at a time. Olivia scoops up a fistful and tries to cram them into her mouth all at once. Judging by the mess around her highchair, I’d say she has about a 30 percent success rate.

And also, chicken:

Since Olivia is still waking to eat twice every night, I think I’ll offer her a burger next. That ought to hold her.

18 Jul

It’s never too early for a cupcake

Posted by Rebecca in In the kitchen.

Ginger zucchini cupcakes with cream cheese frosting from Martha Stewart.

If there was a cupcake suitable for morning, this would have to be it. It’s actually from a cake recipe, one that I made in college when I had a lot of extra time on my hands.

Now, baking is more therapeutic. Or maybe it’s a penance, I don’t know. I feel guilty about not always being able to work the traditional 8-5 because I have small children, and I feel even more guilt about not being fully engaged at home. The laundry isn’t done, the house isn’t picked up, the fridge needed to be cleaned out two weeks ago, and I’m working on the email I didn’t get to that afternoon because one of the kids needed to go to the doctor.

But, I can involve the kids (the healthy ones, anyway) in a baking project. Even Liv can wield a measuring spoon. I feel better about doing something that’s at least somewhat domestic, and I can take the finished project in for my coworkers.

It’s a win-win.

Actually, it’s a win-win-win, as there are cupcakes for breakfast.