MORE FOOD TALK

Okay, I really feel like I unnecessarily freaked out about introducing foods to Forest. I worried that I wasn't following the "rules" properly or he would only love one kind of food or he wasn't getting the right balance. And now he eats just about everything. Well he hasn't had meat yet, only a little fish because I was on the side of raising him as a vegetarian. Plus he really likes vegetarian proteins—beans, tofu, edamame, cheese, yogurt.

So, basically at this point I still give him his favorite foods—bananas, sweet potatoes or squash. But then, I also give him what I'm eating cut into small pieces (I eat pretty healthy so most things are baby friendly. We still need to avoid honey, peanuts, shellfish, whole milk and egg whites though). This boy loves to feed himself and plus it's great for his fine motor skills! This has been really wonderful because it keeps him occupied while we're eating or I can even wash some dishes without needing to entertain him. The only thing we need to work on is starting to make soup without salt for him since we've been making a lot for ourselves lately.

There's really nothing I can think of that he hasn't liked when he's able to feed himself or after he sees me eating it then wants some too. I think this little boy is going to be a foodie!

Sharing a pear with me.


I had to share this video. I took it after he was done eating as you can tell by his face. But I had the flash on the camera and he was so amazed by it...after a few seconds you'll see the best smile ever!!

THOUGHTS ABOUT HOLIDAYS

Ethan and I have been really starting to think about whether we should raise Forest with religion. This has become pretty challenging for me to think about because I'm not religious and Ethan isn't either. I wasn't brought up with it, other than just celebrating holidays. According to Jewish law, I'm considered Jewish since my mother is. My dad on the other hand is Italian Catholic. So I always felt I was half and half since really that's what makes sense. But, again it was just that we celebrated Christmas and also lit a menorah for Hanukkah. Did I know what these holidays stood for? No. Do I now? Kinda, sorta.

Now we're faced with whether we should blindly continue to do this or actually start to educate ourselves and therefore Forest about the meaning behind these holidays. I'm a bit in a bind. For one, I think as an American, Christmas is a huge part of our culture. This is even without the religious parts. It's everywhere—the lights, the music, decorations, trees, presents, etc. I really liked Christmas as a kid. I loved the magic of it. I would always wake up during the night to scope out the gifts from Santa with the tree lights twinkling and everyone sleeping and felt so happy. It was my favorite holiday as I'm sure it is for most kids.

But I do consider myself Agnostic. So when it comes to believing what Christmas stands for, I'm not sure I actually believe in that. I feel pretty phony introducing this holiday to my child with this thought about it. However, I'm also not sure if I want to take a holiday away from him that most people celebrate. Also, a holiday which I have a bunch of fond memories around.

What do you do? This is a tough one. Ethan is leaning towards getting into Judaism as a family. He thinks it'll give Forest a nice sense of community to be part of something that neither of us had. I see his point but I'm really not ready to commit.

Until then, Forest will celebrate his first Christmas this year since it's what our families celebrate and I just need to document his first one ;)...maybe I'll even sneak in some potato pancakes!

9 MONTHS

My baby is over 9 months old now. Holy cow! He had his 9-month check-up this past week and it went so well. I'm so proud of him. He is Mr. Personality at the doctor's office (well pretty much everywhere). I think he really just loves interacting with people and catching your eye. I wonder if this will be how he is when he's older—more of an extrovert and the life of the party. Funny because both Ethan and I are on the shyer side.

Here are some Forest stats:

1. He's now 19lbs 6 oz and 29" long.
2. He's letting go while he stands now and balancing on his own.
3. He walks while he pushes something.
4. He has 6 teeth. His front top ones were the last ones to pop through and those were the toughest for him. Poor guy :(
5. He mostly sleeps in his crib during the night now. We did the much debated 'cry it out' method and you know what, it saved all of our sanity. I'm relieved we found something that worked for us. He still cries when we put him in his crib but we're not giving in now.
6. He's a chatter box. He still likes to say "dadada" and "mamama". But now throws in those cliché baby sounds like "gooo goo ga ga" etc. I think he may know we're mama and dada but is teasing us about it.
7. He is such a charmer! He just flirts and smiles at everyone.
8. He's still breastfed but is also obsessed with the bottle. If he sees another baby with one, he will quickly crawl over and try to snatch it away.
9. Somehow he learned how to crawl up the stairs (I caught him on the 5th step a few weeks ago!). We have to install those baby gates soon!
10. Loves food. He still gets purees but I realized he prefers to pick up food himself (see pic with peas below). So I've been playing around with giving him pieces of what I'm eating and so far he likes everything even when he didn't like it mushed up. But his favorites are still sweet potatoes and bananas.




Forest comes to work with me on Thursday afternoons.