Going Green

I would like to start by expressing that we do care about our environment...but that's not the kind of "green" this post is about. Also, these pics are random ones I have from doing stuff around the house over the last month. Ones where Steven's eating would be more appropriate but oh well.

I've mentioned that Steven is a little picky; although, if I'm honest he is actually a pretty good eater-- he's probably picky like most kids. I've started to accept the fact that toddlers just don't eat like adults do. One meal or entire day, he'll eat like crazy and then the next I can hardly get him to eat anything. He has never met a fruit he didn't like and he could probably live on that and dairy alone if we let him. He does pretty well with his whole grains, but vegetables are not high on his "like list." He likes peas, carrots, and corn (I know that corn is not a veggie but I cut him some slack) but that's pretty much it.

So, in an effort to get him the nutrients he needs and to teach him to eat his veggies, I am launching "Operation Eat Your Veggies" or as Charlton calls it "Operation Trojan Horse." Aunt Jenn gave me a cookbook for Christmas called Deceptively Delicious. It's basic idea is to puree the nutritious food that your child won't eat and hide them into yummy things they love. While you are tricking your kids into eating well, you also introduce the different disliked fruits or veggies (in our case) at lunch and dinner so that eventually they learn to eat the real thing. Steven would be missing out on so many nutrients if I waited for that day to come. So, in the mean time I'm being deceptive...so far I've made Applesauce muffins (with Squash puree) and Banana bread (with Cauliflower puree), and Blueberry Oatmeal bars (with spinach puree). Steven let out a "hmmmm" when he tasted each one and that gave me so much satisfaction. Charlton and I have been eating them as well, and my mom couldn't believe there was spinach in the oatmeal bars when she had one today. Now, I have to be honest that Steven is very out-of-sorts this week so he's not eating a lot of it. But, that makes feel even better that every bite he's getting is at least valuable to him in a nutritional sense. I've never been a health nut but when he realized at 11 months that he could refuse food that he didn't want to eat, I've been on a quest to teach him to eat right and well with every bite or at least most. That was Stage 1...now we've moved on to Stage 2. Sometimes Steven will refuse whatever we put on his tray but if I purposefully eat whatever I want him to eat in front of him--that's how I got him to taste the three above breads-- he always wants it. That is really aggravating so I'm using it to my advantage now. This has also made Charlton and I more careful about what we eat because Steven usually wants it too. See, everyone wins when I'm being deceptive!

As you can imagine, I've been doing a lot of cooking lately. =) Steven has been busy as well. He's added "hi," "good-bye," and "no" to his vocabulary since the last post. He is doing the baby signs for "hot" and hungry" now too, and he's is getting pretty good with his spoon and fork. He's so grown-up now! My mom came and stayed with him today so I could go run some errands alone- so nice! They mostly consisted of going to the DPS to re-take my eye test for a new license-- they make you after Lasik to remove the restriction on your licence. It wasn't too bad (about 1 1/2 hours) but I really didn't mind too much since it's slowly sinking in that I don't have to wear glasses anymore.