amira's getting super fast this month - she's rolling around the tv room carpet like nobody's business. leave her on the floor a second and she'll plonk herself in front of the tv cabinet, or in between the sofas, or next to her playpen, or even near the edge of the sofa, looking out of the sliding door. she's not to be left alone on the bed anymore. she rolled herself off the tv room sofa once under amir and asyraf's supervision but Alhamdulilah fell onto the carpet, smiling. the boys went to bed crying and feeling guilty - as they should!
amira's a jumping baby in her new jumperoo. we got it early last week and she's been accompanying us for dinner, pressing all sorts of the buttons on the jumperoo. when she's not pressing button and grabbing toys, she's sitting back on the jumperoo seat like a boss. i'm so happy for her as she doesn't have to keep lying down on the floor and get bored with just rolling around.
my most favorite part of her seventh month journey is the weaning. i started to give amira food about a month ago, a couple of week before she turned six month. i started with brown porridge and moved to to various types of fruits and veggies.
over four weeks, i monitored her reaction to the food introduced and paid attention to her likes and dislikes. i found that amira loves carrots, apples (although she would start the first few spoons with her funny face), pumpkin and bananas. she's not too fond of porridge - brown or white - for some reason. she can finish each serving except when she's given potato or sweet potatoes, maybe she gets full with those faster than other food. she's gotten constipation a couple of times, usually after being served potatoes or sweet potatoes, and need to change her diet to 'softer' food like bananas and apples and papaya to get her system back to normal.
to clarify, i'm not 'rajin' and i'm not that into amira's meal preparation. its the same as cooking other meals for me. i do them because i need to do them. i like them as far as surfing for recipes and looking at photos but actually sitting in the kitchen and cooking, i'm on the border with that. sometimes i like cooking, sometimes i feel like pulling my hair out. when i get bitten by the cooking bug, i like to do a lot because once its gone (and it can go away reallyyyy fast) i don't even want to enter the kitchen to make toasts.
but what i do love is kitchen gadgets. i like to cook with gadgets because they are my helpers. its the same with baby food preparation. i bought event steamer and blender and i'm so loving it. again, i don't like time wasting. so when i steam and blend, i steam and blend a lot! at one session, i don't do just 1, i do 2 or 3 or 4 types of puree. then i'd stop for 5 or 6 days before spending time to do another batch of puree.
i would do single food puree first, apple, papaya, carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, broccoli, those kinds. i'd steam and blend them and put them in the food containers. when its time for amira's meal, i'd combine them like the food i see at the supermarket or on the net. usually 'soft' puree like apple and papaya is combined with the 'hard' puree of potato and sweet potato. but i've tried various combination as well - papaya & pumpkin, carrot & apple, potato & broccoli, sweet potato & pumpkin. alhamdulillah, amira's not very choosy and can finish a full bowl. that's the best reward for a lazy mummy.
potato & broccoli
carrot & apple (just because the carrot wasnt enough for her)
pumpkin & rice porridge
pumpkin (too watery)
carrot
pumpkin & potato
carrot & apple
papaya & apple
having said that, i'm not an only homemade mummy. there's just so many tempting ready made baby food at the supermarket. i do try to minimize store-bought baby food, but its nice to have some in the pantry on lazy days. i stock up on baby cereal and teething rusks and a couple of jars of baby food. its nice having to pull them out once in a while. oh well…i'm trying.
