MAYbe I'll catch up on blogging soon

May was pretty low-key.  Lots of trips to the zoo. Scott's parents came to play in the Milk Bank's annual golf tournament (Scott's mom won "longest drive" to the chagrin of the 99% male golfers - ha ha!) and stayed for Mother's Day.  Scott and I fixed brunch for our moms, and I was spoiled rotten (highlights: Clara made me a painting; my dad sent a yummy edible arrangement; in-laws gave me a "nifty fifty" lens for my camera; my mom gave me a Wolfe Pottery bird; and Scott made a mindblowing vegan caesar dressing).

So far June has been lazy and warm. We attended/semi-helped-host a block party at which Clara discovered the joy of watermelon on the rind.  I've been doing a lot of soul-searching about my career path.  We're gearing up for our annual beach trip in late July.

More on all that soon. For now, here's May in pics:

loves her kitty slippers

playing in the eagle's nest at the science museum

three generations, mother's day
(also, this begins the period known as A.L. - after [awesome, new] lens)

worn out from making everyone do "jazz hands" at breakfast

independent at the zoo

"hiss cat" face

back at the zoo w/uncle Jeremy

mirror lake

Cell phone pics:

mama's (very) old toy!

future archaeologist

Hope everyone has a great week!
-G.

Adventures in Solids

Clara has been getting 1-2 servings of solids per day for the past month. Likes: mangoes, mangoes and peaches, bananas, roasted bananas and pears, applesauce with cinnamon.  Dislikes: plain sweet potatoes.  Hates: brown rice cereal.

She always wants to control the spoon, though at least half the puree ends up in her lap or on her face that way.

 Today we tried baby yogurt for the first time, and it was a huge hit! I mixed YoBaby organic yogurt (plain) with homemade mashed sweet potatoes, apple sauce and a bit of cinnamon. It probably doesn't look very appetizing, but I tried it and it's quite good (and I hate yogurt).

Next up is an apple-carrot-mango puree (recipe from Weelicious). That sounds totally weird to me, but Clara doesn't know any better :-)

Clara and the Sweet Potato

With her doctor's blessing, we attempted to start Clara on solids this weekend. Skipping the stripped-and-fortified rice cereal friends have described as "paste-like," we began her culinary adventures with a sweet potato. I cooked it in the microwave, then pulsed the flesh with a couple of ounces of breastmilk (formula would also work) in a mini-food processor. Then I scooped a tiny bit into a tiny cup for the momentous occasion.

 This cup was Scott's grandmother's (she passed away shortly after our wedding in 2007.)

Clara seemed intrigued by the flavor, but had no idea what to do with this non-liquid thing in her mouth.

Daddy, what just happened?

We'll try sweet potatoes again soon. Next, either homemade brown rice cereal or mangoes.

We're going to freeze the remaining sweet potato puree in ice cube trays and pop the frozen cubes into a zip-loc for storage. Then we'll just pull out and reheat them as needed.

Great resources for homemade baby food recipes/advice:

http://wholesomebabyfood.com/

http://weelicious.com/ (homemade brown rice cereal recipe, plus much more)

-G.