Eliza's First Swing

It has come to our attention that the bulk of our updates of Eliza are related to her eating. While Eliza does spend a good part of her waking hours filled with the anticipation of eating, actually eating, or upset that she is no longer eating, we do other things with her, too. We've been hitting the Madison beaches pretty hard these last couple of weeks: playing in the sand or splashing around in the water during the day, firing up one of the beachside grills for dinner. The Surf Club has a little playground that we noticed had some swings that may or may not be appropriate for an 8+ month old. But we thought that Eliza would enjoy the ride and risk, so away she went on her first swing. Here is the video evidence - housechapin.blogspot.com if you're reading this on Facebook.

Also if a member of the Madison Public Works reads this blog - and I'm pretty confident at least 3 of them do - if you could shoot some WD-40 on the swings at The Surf Club that'd be swell.

We Never Did Get The Picture

I didn't get the exchange between Michael and I where we agreed that this photo op would never happen, so you'll just have to take my word for it. But no one listens to ol' Deacon and Michael. Personally, I think the attempt of getting 3 kids under 2 years old to remain still for the 1/30th of a second it takes to snap a photo is asking a lot. Now, the ultimate result - that is, the attempt of getting these three bundles of unbridled kinetic energy to remain still for a moment while singing "Tomorrow" - was a noble attempt, to be sure. I'm just glad I got it on film.

Video @ housechapin.blogspot.com.

John Stewart Says, "Eat Quinoa"

Up until the day before we shot this video (6/24) Eliza had eaten puree of a variety of fruits and vegetables. They all shared one commonality: the consistency of, well, baby food. Making her food amounted to (sometimes) peeling, chopping, steaming and using the handy dandy immersion blender that The Other Chapins gave us for Christmas last year. As I used the blender I might hear in the background the suggestion that Eliza "could use a little more texture."

This video is Eliza's first foray into the world of textured food. Quinoa. Delicious, nutritious quinoa. Doesn't every family feed their child a South American pseudocereal (thanks, Wikipedia!) as one of her first foods? We thought so!

Dining al fresco

We doubt that Eliza really has a preference as to where she takes her meals. Who knows, though, maybe she appreciates the view while she eats her puree of cauliflower. Either way, here's a short video of Eliza noshing on some of that aforementioned cauliflower. Or was it parsnips? It really doesn't matter; she's eaten everything we've put in front of her, including some bits of paper plate when we weren't paying close enough attention.

Mornings

Don't call her a cat person, but Eliza loves Bella.

For the FB viewers, check out a new video at housechapin.blogspot.com.

If only she were happier

This is how our evenings have been lately.

If you're reading this on Facebook, head on over to housechapin.blogspot.com. There's a video.

First Rice Cereal And Now THIS?

You're feeding me what?

I guess when we stop and think about it, avocado is kind of a weird first food. We sort of both independently thought about it, and when we suggested it to each other, naturally we thought it was a capital idea. As an added bonus, you don't have to do anything to it other than mash it with a fork to get it ready to feed to a 6 month old. As a second added bonus (this is where you can make up your own Goldman-Sachs joke), we happen to love avocado and will happily eat any of the leftovers that Eliza chooses to kick down to us. I don't think this will be true with, say, puree of pea.

Further, avocados have a ton of good fat, potassium, a couple of those B vitamins with the numbers after them, vitamin E, vitamin K, and, also important: fiber.

She seemed pretty excited to be eating - which is not unusual. She didn't seem to recognize the difference in color from her usual dinner of oatmeal to this bright green paste and took her bites quite readily. The end result: she finished an entire half of an avocado in about 10 minutes (a good part of which ended up on her face/bib/floor). She would, intermittently, seem to shudder as if surprised by what she was eating. Which makes sense, seeing as how everything she's eaten until this point had been devoid of texture and, mostly, taste. Round 2 vs. the avocado is tomorrow. Maybe a video (horizontally shot) is in order?

Hmmm...interesting.

Hey! Not too bad!

Your avocado. Give it to me.