Olympics Build Up

Today we had the Olympic torch relay go past near our house so it was an early start for all of us to get up and out the door in time to get a place in the crowd. 

I found a fairly good place but sadly the boys couldn't see and I wasnt able to pursuade the crowd to let me and the kids to the front so we could see and because I had AJ in the woven wrap I couldnt lift either of the other 2 to see so really thankful I got such a good clear picture of the Flame

You can see in the background on the left the crowd that lined the route all the way into Kingston ( well as far as the eye could see up the hill ) it was 8-10 people thick in places on the sidewalk

We forgot to take Nate's "torch" he made at nursery with us and the Flag but I think the boys enjoyed the trip out and the breakfast treats since we didn't have time for breakfast because I forgot to reset my Alarm.

This weekend the Men's and Woman's Cycle races are happening in Kingston so going downtown is near impossible with the road closures etc.... so we will probably be at the Chessington Fun Day at The Kings Centre which is round the road from us, they have planned a fun day with bouncy castles  a bbq, entertainment for the kids and will be having a little concert plus showing the race on the big screens in their hall. 

Otherwise the build up to the Olympics has kinda missed us lol we didnt get tickets to anything partly because you cant take Children very easily onto the Sites where events will be held plus they were super expensive lol so we will watch the events we want to on the BBC like the rest of everyone and I hope to catch the main NZ medal hopes in my watching.

Perils of 7month old with teeth

Well its been awhile since my last post now and we are continuing with BLW for Alister

we have introduced a spoon both pre-loading it and handing it to him ( watch out for flicking of the spoon ) and just loading it up and allowing him to open his mouth and move onto the spoon if he wants to eat, being careful all the time to watch for him loosing interest in the food so we stop.

Though mostly he's eating by feeding himself finger foods

 We are expanding his diet slowly

this past week he has had

Yogurt ( about 2 1/2 table spoonfuls each time)

Toast 

Toast dipped in low salt chicken soup

Honey dew and Water Melon

Strawberries

Apple

Pineapple

Cucumber

Melon

Pasta with Spag Bol sauce

Pasta with Pesto

Cheese ( mild and red leister )

Chicken

Ham

Tomatos ( halved and seeded )

Red and Yellow Bell Pepper strips

Banana 

Lettuce ( wasnt very happy with this )

Pork ribs ( the meat minus the sauce )

Roasted Duck

Fish Fingers minus the crumbs

Homemade Chips

Normally for a meal I'll offer 2-3 different foods onto his tray and let him pick and choose what he wants to eat and how and just rescue the bits that fall down beside him because they slip out of his hand.

Hes had a few goes with a beaker of water at playgroup but otherwise has water out of a bottle during the day

And he still wakes in the night to be fed, last night he slept 8.30-1.30 then woke again at 4.30ish and up for the day at 7.30ish. But that is a huge improvement over the 11, 1.30, 2.30, 3.30, 4.30, 6.30 he was doing.

We will get there one day

Weaning... the Baby Led Way

I don't proclaim to be an expert in Baby Led Weaning

( lets just say BLW instead aye )

But now AJ is nearly 7 months old we have been slowly introducing him to real foods without mushing things up the same way we did with EJ.

In fact Ive not even read the whole BLW book I should probably get it out of the Library and read it lol

Anyway This is about my experience using the BLW method ( loosely speaking ) with EJ and AJ

Typically first food in this house for all 3 boys has been Apple,

With Nate I did puree it but not for the younger boys they just got sticks of apple big enough to hold and have a bit sticking out to chew on.

It can be a scary thing to give whole food to a young child but BLW works on the priciple that if their bodies are ready to accept food ( ie.. their digestive system being mature ) then they will have the motor skills both with their hands and their mouths to be able to eat food without the need for it to be provided in puree form.

It makes sense in my head probably because we had a terrible time with Nate moving from smooth loose puree's to thicker and lumpier foods and hes still not great with thick textured foods or things lumpy in a sauce like chunky soups... so if there was a way to skip that problem I was all up for it with EJ, Also we had to spoon feed Nate for ages as he wouldnt feed himself it was a misson when I was pregnant with EJ to get Nate to eat with a fork and spoon on his own loading them himself so I was thrilled when I saw videos of BLW babies at 8-10 months spoon feeding themselves !

With EJ we started out with grab sized cooked vege and raw fruit and he coped really well at 9 months old he tucked into a full roast Christmas dinner and ate much more of it unaided than his older brother did. 

it doesnt take long for BLW children to get to grips with moving food around inside their mouth forwards and backwards and learning how not to put too much in,

the Gagging reflex is natural and normal and supposed to prevent choking its often confused with a child choking and consquently parents freak out because of it but ive learnt that if they dont learn to gag and cough up the lumps then choking is a much more real possiblity if they get into something they arent supposed to be putting in their mouths. having a good gag reflex is a life skill it could save your childs life!

With EJ we had far less real scares over him and foods than with Nate where we were dropping off food on the back part of his tounge off a spoon.

I dont know many adults who enjoy being spoon fed so I think its normal for children to feel the same way and being able to feed themselves is a great way to grow independance in a way that you want them to be independant of you, ( who really wants to spoon feed a 5 yr old or 15,25+ yr olds )

So starting as I mean to carry on makes good sense.

Right now AJ's list of tried foods is.

Apple slices and sticks

Raw Carrot sticks ( didnt like this one much )

Pear chunks

Banana

Bread sticks

Pizza crusts ( why should he miss out on pizza night? )

Chicken breast sliced diagonally into thick fingers

Baked Potato sticks ( aka fries )

Grapes

Clemetine segments

Tomatoes ( quartered and seeded )

Pasta ( Spirali, Penne and Fusilli in ragu sauce )

Brocolli ( cooked in easy grab florrets )

Yoghurt

Pork Sausage

The favorite from those is probably Pear and the Chicken both he ate really well then probably Pasta after that. the Brocolli was fun and he definately ate some as we witness from the nappies this morning lol.

So its food fun and games in the Odendaal household at the moment 

more to come later...