Liam has started enjoying putting his feet on the dinner table. We discourage this which makes him laugh and want to do it more. Thankfully scooting him closer to the table helps dissuade him from doing this but we didn't stop this habit quickly enough- Miss Priss has caught on.
Also, my veggies are growing!
Grandma and Pops came in today- they're going to be watching the kids for the next few days so Zachary and I can go to Philadelphia- it's going to be our early anniversary celebration and I'm super excited! We took them to see Zachary's new office after they got in.
I have talked before about how important it is for me for my kids to healthy from the start- I think it's one of the most meaningful, important gifts a parent can give a child. Never did I ever think I would have this on my stove one day:
It's cold up here which makes chicken and rice soup a perfect meal! Here is chopped up carrots, onions, celery and zucchini being sauteed in preparation for my soup! I've made it several times- the first time I couldn't get enough and then the next few times, it wasn't as good. I've figured out the key is to let it sit for a while. So I sauteed the veggies, boiled some chicken and shredded it, mixed that together in chicken broth with some leftover wild rice and we left for Dick's Sporting Goods and let it sit while we were gone- looking forward to eating it when we got back. Before we left though, Liam had some last minute chores to take care of.
Zachary got a gift card from my parents for Christmas so as he looked around, I let Liam wander around the store, following closely behind. At first he was just so thrilled at being able to do whatever he wanted, he was walking up and down every aisle. And then he found the kayaks.
Zachary found a Washington Wizards t shirt he liked and Liam found an ice scraper that will probably come in handy before too long. So we reined Liam in and headed home to enjoy our soup!
Liam always eats what we eat. Sometimes he will fight us but we just save his dinner for when he realizes he's hungry and that usually works. Unless his geographic tongue is acting up but that's a whole different story. We have been a little remiss in feeding Miss Malia solids. When we were in Jacksonville, towards the end, Liam's occupational therapist told us about a theory of feeding solids to babies in which you just give them tiny pieces of the food instead of pureeing it. In this way you are able to give the baby whatever the family is already eating and it helps them get used to different textures while giving them a great variety. Zachary fed Malia a few tiny pieces of zucchini that were super soft having been sauteed and then soaked in the soup and she loved it! I don't have photographic evidence but Liam loved it too!!
We are back to Zachary being gone on Wednesday and Thursday evenings and nights. For Wednesday, I had planned a super easy dinner- one where you put some stuff in a baking dish and throw it in the oven. I had a similar meal planned for Thursday night but when I looked in the pantry for one of the main ingredients, it wasn't there so I had to pick a different meal. The only other meal for which we had everything we needed was a new recipe and a pretty time consuming, detailed one. However I had to choose between making this meal or packing up both kids and dragging them out in the cold to go get either the missing ingredient for the planned meal or something not so healthy so I decided to go for it. I am so glad I did! The recipe was for beef lo mein and as I always do when the recipe calls for broccoli, I substituted zucchini. Liam was signing, "I want" so I handed him a piece of zucchini, fully expecting him to spit it out but he surprised me and worked on it for a few minutes and only spit out the skin. I cut the skin off of a couple more pieces and he ate those so he ended up eating about 5 slices of raw zucchini.
That kept him occupied and in my sight as I navigated the new recipe.
First, you just cook eight ounces of spaghetti and while that's going boil 1/4 cup of water. Then you mix in one tablespoon of beef bouillon and two tablespoons of brown sugar. You stir that until everything dissolves and then stir in three tablespoons of soy sauce (my favorite). You set that aside and then start browning the meat. The recipe calls for "a pound of beef" which is not very specific so we picked out some stew beef since it's already cut up! You brown that and then add the sauce mixture and let that cook together. Take out the meat, leaving behind the yummy juices which you will use to saute carrots, onions and zucchini. Add some garlic after the vegetables are soft and then mix the meat, veggies and spaghetti all together and you're done! I let mine sit for a while on low before serving and I think that made it even better.
I made Liam a bowl and was just planning on throwing the spaghetti noodles away because he never eats pasta but he liked the meal so much he ate the noodles too!
Zachary got home around 10 and heated some of the leftovers up and loved it too. I had some leftovers the next day for lunch and concluded as good as it is for the lunch the next day, it's much better freshly cooked. I've already decided it's going to be on the menu this coming week!
