An Eating Machine
Allison has turned into a mini eating machine. This all started during her birthday dinner at my mom’s house when she ate 4 meatballs, half a jar of carrots, a bunch of noodles, at least six small blocks of tofu and cake! We thought this might have been an anomaly. Since then though, she’s mowed down everything in sight. It’s not uncommon for her to sit in her high chair for over 45 minutes picking through her food, raising her eyebrows and carefully inserting cubes of food to her mouth.
A couple days ago we took the girls to Ruby’s. Allison dutifully ate her avocado, grated cheese, corn and black beans from our salads, while Katherine picked at her mac and cheese. Funnily Katherine insisted on sitting in a high chair next to Allison. Halfway thru the meal, Allison started pulling on Katherine’s high chair, and a very annoyed Katherine moved to sit in the booth. After this hasty departure, and before we could stop her, Allison reached for the mac cheese and stuffed some in her mouth! She loved it and must have had 3-4 more big spoonfuls before we left.
Tonight at dinner she ate an entire avocado (admittedly not a large one), 2 strawberries, at least 6-8 pieces of penne pasta, 4 or 5 pieces of broccoli, several large chunks of sweet potato and some bits of whole wheat bread.
Needless to say we’ve been changing a lot of big diapers. Allison is also starting to fill out which is great.
We’ve been pleasantly surprised at the range of her palate. New additions include edaname, grapes, mango, corn (straight off the cob) and broccoli. Between all four of us, we managed to eat 3 small heads of blanched broccoli tonight, and the girls could have eaten more! Allison is very clear about her preferences, exclaiming “mmm mmm” when she wants more of something. She makes the sound “saw” for strawberries which is also one of her favorite treats. When we go to the fridge and get water, her eyes light up and she says “agua agua!” Sometimes she reaches out with her arms as to say, “I’m really thirsty. Gimme some of your water!”
We started cows milk on her birthday. She’ll take a couple sips but hasn’t acquired a strong liking yet. I’m hoping this happens soon, because we have only 7-8 more weeks to wean her before I go to Napa without the kids!
Twelve Steps
We’re not sure what precipitated this eating interest, but we think it may have to do with her walking. For the most part she still crawls, scoots and cruises. When there’s nothing to hold onto OR she’s really motivated to get something, she’ll take small steps sometimes stopping to regain her balance and then walk again.
Tonight I brought out one of her favorite items…the blue vacuum cleaner. It may be that she heard this a lot in the womb (thanks to a hairy dog), or she may just think it’s fascinating. From clear across the room, she made a beeline to the vacuum. We caught this on video with our new Canon Elph (one of our old ones bit it). She showed us several times tonight that she can take upwards of 12 steps before she collapses to the ground!!
Sibling Issues
Most of the time, the girls enjoy playing together. Other times are just angstful for one or both of them. A couple days ago I had a meeting a Seattle which meant that Steve had the girls for 2 hours. He decided to take them in the Chariot for a ride behind his road bike.
I’m actually sorry I missed this experience because it sounded like a hoot. From Steve’s description, Allison discovered and learned to love the kid Camelback. She loved it so much that she and Katherine fought in the Chariot for it, prompting Steve to stop and figure out what was going on. Katherine told him, “Allison is going to drink all the water in the water backpack!!” Katherine also ate in front of her sister without adequately sharing.
Yesterday I had the kids in the afternoon and spent quite a bit of time with Katherine playing with Steve’s gear set while Allison was napping. Post nap Allison was a little groggy. But as soon as she heard the whirring of the gears and saw them in action, her eyes lit up, she gave us a big smile, flapped her arms, and wiggled her legs. I put her down next to the coffee table and mayhem ensued. Allison would walk around the table grabbing the gears and messing them up. Katherine would get really mad and tell her sister to stop. Finally I intervened and suggested that Katherine find something for Allison to play with. We also started dinner which saved us from further distress.
