Gaining Confidence with family food

So following on from the afternoon's eating in public success I was much more relaxed about dinner last night. We were having macaroni cheese (always a 'no food in the house' standby!) but while it was being cooked the Moo decided she was starving! Strips of mango and long slices of pear were devoured with all the pieces of papaya studiously ignored. She tried one then avoided all the rest - not a great favourite then!!
Once dinner was ready she happily tucked into the pasta (I had used the spirally stuff as it would be easier to get hold of) and its definitely the smallest thing she's managed to get reliably into her mouth. She also really liked an onion ring!
I think all that food must have helped her to be more settled last night too.
This morning she enjoyed french toast and pears which has been our "cleanest" meal so far!

Look what I can do!

So today D-Moo decided to show her Aunt and baby cousin (10wks younger than she is) how BLW works while we were out with the boys at soft play. She sat up in her highchair with her sleeved bib covering her lovely dress and made a huge mess with toast and butter, ricecakes, banana and pear. Laughed the whole time and was part of the meal.
I did notice over her shoulder the little boy who had to eat a whole (cold) jar of something orange before his mum had her dinner. He cried through the jar and cried through her meal and it didn't seem like a very happy time for either of them.
Think D-Moo's cousin will be a BLW convert now that they've seen how stress free it can be. S has even asked to borrow my Gill Rapley book.

First holiday and definite preferences emerging!

So I know she's got a tooth (two teeth now actually!) and that she enjoys self feeding and BLW but the ex puree weaner in me just won't shut up!
I bought some jars and sachets of slop to take with us on holiday on the premise that I didn't want her hungry and keeping everyone awake all night and that if we were eating in a restaurant that the food probably wouldn't be suitable. Well we did eat in a restaurant and the food probably wasn't suitable but she loved it and refused every mouthful of slop completely! The Baby Led Weaner in me was quietly very proud as it justified to me that she's much happier doing it herself than me trying to get food into her. The only thing she would tolerate (just) was an apple and pear fruit pot but I only gave her that because she hated the porridge! (Never trust anything you have to reconstitute with water!)
So new foods while we were on holiday included crusty bread with butter on it while waiting for our meal to arrive, a beautifully turned cheffy carrot barrel which was the perfect shape to fit in her fist, apple & blueberry ricecakes as a snack and some of the Organix wotsit type crisp things. Definite favourites of the trip included my raspberry sorbet from my starter (must have been good on the sore gums) and roasted red peppers and ciabatta bread from my brie and pepper roll.

The tools of the trade

Yay! After a few weeks of night waking we have discovered the culprit. Its hard and white and has been lurking just under the surface for weeks. D-Moo finally has a shiny new tooth to help her chomp on all these lovely new foods she's trying!
She must have heard that her grandad was taking her to a restaurant for her dinner tonight and thought it would help!

I want what he's got!

I clearly remember this phrase from my own childhood but wasn't ready to be dealing with it from my own children just yet! OK so the Moo can't talk yet but she made herself more than clear, sweeping the breadsticks and fruit off her tray and shouting at her brother. What was he eating? Mince and tatties with carrots and peas! So he very generously shared it with her! It would appear that she has an "other people's plate" fixation and as we were having prawn curry which wasn't quite ready she went for the Bogie's instead of mine!
I must add here that once I sat down for mine she really enjoyed strips of paratha dipped in plain yoghurt. It was a wonderfully messy, interactive dinner!
On the subject of breadsticks, I got some of the small party size ones which seem the perfect size to munch on while not being so long that she can test her gag reflex! Added to the toast at breakfast (dipped into greek yoghurt with mango sauce) and the rice cake at mum's (only likes the large ones as she can hold it with both hands) she was on carb overload. Think she'll be on fruit & veg today to balance it out!

Spaghetti is hilarious.... apparently!

So tonight's offering for "dinner a deux" was a toast starter followed by mummy's spaghetti with garlic and courgettes in a cream sauce. This is a meal I make for myself when I don't have to cook for the whole family as nobody else likes it (philistines!) but I'm glad to say my daughter is sharing my tastes.
Each fistful of spaghetti was scooped up, laughed at and banged off the highchair tray until she realised that actually its supposed to go into your mouth. The discs of courgette were sucked dry of all the creamy, garlicky sauce before being lovingly fed to the dog (philistine in training I think!)
Stewed pears and greek yoghurt to follow but getting tired and grumpy by this point.
We've survived a whole weekend without Daddy now as he's been off to John O Groats on a charity drive. The sleeping thing seems to have sorted itself out now too (after a fashion) with just one wake in the night. Wonder if a spot of lunch would help her get some more calories in...

I don't feel guilty now.

I wasn't going to post today's food as I intended this to be a BLW blog. Real life isn't like that sometimes and dinner time was a bit of a battlefield tonight.
On the menu for everyone else was pizza - much too much salt for a wee one and no energy today to make from scratch as we often do. D-Moo was so tired from a short nap this afternoon that she was just not up for feeding herself. So she lazily opened her trap for the shovelled in smush which may have been parsnip, apple and baby rice (or pears, I'm not so good at the labelling!)
Sometimes things are worth getting upset about though and today isn't one of them!
She also managed to eat almost a whole pancake for breakfast by herself and is getting much better with holding in the crumbs from her apple muffin with both fists!
So now crashed out for the night and I've celebrated by giving myself a nasty chemical burn with oven cleaner. Who says I don't have exciting weekends anymore!?