This Week's Food: Pear

So last week was sweet potato. We had highs and lows. One day (I think it was Friday), he ate a whole serving (about a tablespoon) of sweet potato without too much trouble. One day or two he was cranky and so I didn't even try feeding him solids and the other days he wasn't too interested in eating. He didn't seem to hate the sweet potatoes, but he didn't really seem to want to eat them either and he only ate a little bit.

So this week we're trying pear. I tried only a tiny amount today and he seemed indifferent toward it. He didn't make a face or spit it out, but he rolled it around in his mouth for a long time. I'm not sure if he was tasting it or if he didn't really know what to do with it or what. But we'll keep practicing.

To make the pear, I needed to steam it. Now, we do have a steaming basket and I have used it before (like once or twice), but I have to admit that the thought of using it wasn't fun. I completely admit it. I'm quite lazy about food. Sometimes I do get excited about a recipe and I get in the kitchen and make it, but mostly, I have plenty of things I'd rather be doing than cooking. And I know it's not like steaming fruits and veggies is really all that hard or time consuming, but I know it's something that I would do begrudgingly. So I was curious when I went to Target today to see if there were other options for steaming. And there was.

I've heard of the Baby Bullet for pureeing foods, but didn't really look into it because we have a food processor and so didn't need something else to puree. Well, apparently there is also a Baby Bullet Steamer. I decided to give it a try. I also picked up some pears, avocados, zucchini, and squash to go ahead and make up and freeze for future meals for Luke.

While reading the instructions for the steamer, I noticed that it had a special tray to make hard boiled eggs. Hmmm...I like hard boiled eggs (and deviled eggs), but I really hate actually making them. I never quite get it right. So since we have a good number of eggs in the fridge right now, I decided to make four (the steamer can make up to six). I filled the tray with the specified amount of water, put on the egg tray and the four eggs, and set it to the right number. About 15 minutes later (I don't remember for sure as I didn't look at the clock), the buzzer went off and my eggs were supposedly done. I dunked them in a cold water bath and then put them in the fridge.

I went on to make Luke's pears. The only bad thing is that I had three pears and the steamer really only holds one pear at a time (cut into chunks). Of course, our steamer basket is small, so it probably would do only one at a time as well. The pears took 13 minutes for each one and it seems to have steamed them nicely. I put the pears in the food processor and pureed them. Then I filled an ice cube tray and put it in the freezer. When the cubes are frozen enough, I'll put them in a zip lock bag for easy storage. I decided to do the other foods a little later.

I remembered my eggs in the fridge and decided to give one a try. I cracked the shell and found that it peeled off very nicely (something that rarely happens for me--although that may have had to do with the time they spent in the fridge which is a step I've never tried before). I bit into the egg carefully, expecting the yolk to be underdone (which I hate). To my surprise, I found that it was cooked rather perfectly. Woo hoo! I think I've found an easy way to make a healthy snack. Make up a half dozen of the eggs, put them in the fridge, and when I want a snack, reach for an egg rather than some chips.

But back to Luke. Since he only had a little pear, I decided to also give him a bit of banana (still trying to see if he'll like it a little better). I had one banana left on the counter and I could tell that it was going to go bad pretty soon. While at Target I had also picked up some mesh feeders. I decided to put the banana in it and let Luke feed himself to see how that worked. Here's how it went:

Hey Mommy, why do you have your camera out? There must be something important about to happen.

Oh look, something for me to put in my mouth.

Wait a minute, this tastes a little funny.

Hold it right there! There's a banana on that plate! Is there a banana in this thing I was chewing on??

Okay, Mommy, I'll try one more time.

Still tastes like banana.

Can we please just be done with this whole banana thing?

So, he didn't seem too impressed with either the mesh feeder or the banana. I'm not going to give up though because bananas are yummy and I'm sure he'll like them at some point. Once I get a few more single ingredient foods tried out on him, I'm going to start mixing some together, so it'll be interesting to see if he'll be more interested in eating banana if it is mixed with something else he does like.

In other Luke news, he has had some moments of better sleep the past two nights (meaning one longish stretch), which is encouraging. But he's also been more cranky during the day.

Thursday was his doctor's appointment and he got a lot of shots. Thursday evening, he had a slight fever. On Friday morning we were going to try to go to a play group, but his nap time started a little later than usual and he slept for a good chunk so we didn't make it to the play group. Two of the other moms had the same issue, so the three of us actually got together for our own small little play group once our three kids woke up. And Luke had several moments where he just burst into tears. He would be perfectly fine and then, boom! Huge crying. I had a little foam letter packed in the diaper bag and gave him that to chew on and that seemed to make him happier. After a little while I decided to take him home and see if he needed another nap. (And sure enough, when we got home, I nursed him and he fell back asleep.)

I had noticed that he still had a slight fever (99.5). I couldn't remember how long he might have a fever from the shots, so I called the doctor's office and was told he could actually have a fever, and much higher than what it was, for up to 72 hours. I was glad later that I made that call then because in the early evening I took his temperature and it was up to 101. Eek! I gave him some Tylenol and that seemed to help. But he was not really fully acting like his usual cheerful self. It also seemed like he had forgotten that he could roll over. 

I was expecting a long night full of soothing. It started out with him waking up about every 1.5 hours, but then he slept from 1:30-5:30 straight. This morning, his fever was gone (yay!) and he seemed much more cheerful. He went right back to rolling over multiple times whenever I put him on his back and seemed happy to play with his toys. We went out after his morning nap to look in on a friend's cats and also to make the Target run. I realized that I was low on gas (my car estimated I could go 40 more miles), so I decided to go to a gas station first. One the way there, Luke started crying. He calmed down a little as long as I was singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." I got gas, made sure he had his pacifier handy, and then drove on to Target.

Cue the crying. Cue the screaming. Why does it have to happen when I'm driving and can't do anything about it? Even the singing didn't work this time. I went ahead and stopped at Target and parked and got into the backseat, took him out of the car seat, and just held him, which calmed him down. I then grabbed a cart and put the cart cover we bought recently but hadn't yet used on it and strapped Luke in (I thought that he might like riding in the cart that way instead of strapped to me in the Ergo because then he could look around a bit more). And it worked. He only started to cry a little bit one time in the store and he was easily calmed. So I got through shopping and headed home. More crying. Nap time.

He slept for a good chunk and when he woke up we did the above feeding. Then we got down on the floor to play and he was cheerful for a little while. Then he started to get a little upset again and I handed him a nearby toy--Sophie (a little teething giraffe). Oh my gosh. If Sophie had been something to eat, Luke would have gobbled her up instantly. He was just chomping on her and rubbing her on his gums for a good while. So I'm thinking that the recent crying fits may be teething related. I noticed while in Target that he was running his tongue around in his mouth, which is something I hadn't really seem him do before.

I finally got him settled down for his third nap of the day (and unfortunately missed out on a dinner invitation from some friends who were in town) and he's been asleep for almost an hour. But he just woke up and he's already crying again, so I'd better end this and go see what's bothering him now. Hopefully Sophie can make him feel better.