Feeding Fire

  Does anyone remember the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks? I caught it on TV last week, and let me tell you, I can relate to the scene at the end of the movie where he picks up the lighter, clicks it and gets fire, and just shakes his head. I'm so envious of parents in the states that can just stop by a grocery store and pick up baby food- I'm not mad, I just wish I could do the same thing!
   Feeding Fire is getting to be a problem. This boy loves to eat and he's ready to move on to more food. Until now, he's been eating the Gerber baby food that we can buy here, mainly the four standard veggies (squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, and peas) and the four fruits (apples, bananas, pears, and peaches). We feed him one veggie and one fruit at each meal and he chows them down and then takes a bottle of formula. Lately though, he's still been hungry after eating his baby food and has been taking larger and larger bottles. If we were back in the states, I would start buying stage 3 foods for him to expand his palette and keep him fuller longer.
   But we're not in the states, so I can't. And unfortunately, Fire only has two bottom teeth right now so he can't really chew, otherwise I would move him towards eating baby versions of our meals. He loves to gum food and we'll give him crackers or carrots while we're eating dinner but most of them end up in the high chair rather than in his tummy. So I've been experimenting lately and here's what I've found: this is hard and every time he rejects something, it's like a kick in my mommy-heart and when he eats something that I made, I want to dance for joy.

Let's get the Fire-rejects out of the way first:
-carrots (but he'll eat the store-bought ones... Even when make them extra yummy by cooking them in chicken bouillon and then puree them to the consistency of the store-bought food, he won't eat them. They come back out with a giggle and a raspberry)
-sweet potatoes (see carrots- so frustrating!)
-black beans (These came out so yummy I would have eaten them! Fire will eat one or two spoonfuls and then he spits them out)
-lentils (see black beans. Arrrrghhh!)

But Fire is loving:
-my home-made yogurt
-feta cheese (really, he'll eat feta but not carrots or black beans?)
-avocado (pureed with lime juice, salt, and water)
-tofu (he could eat tofu all day! I used a box of water-packed silken tofu (the tofu and the water), salt, pepper, soy sauce and sesame oil and blended it all to his favorite consistancy. He cries if I don't get this into his mouth fast enough)

I'm going to keep trying things, mainly because I have to. I've looked into ordering stage 3 food online and it's just not worth it. It's not cheap and the cost of shipping makes it even more expensive, plus the mail is pretty backed up here right now. Up next on the dock for food to try is blending rice into things, like the canned peas-and-carrots I bought last night. I've had trouble getting meat fine enough that he can eat it, so I might try some ground beef or turkey next, pureed with rice or potatoes.
 Have you made your own baby food? What worked for you? Also, what's your take on baby-food mills? It looks like they can be hit or miss. I'll keep you posted on how things go.

Crakers? Yes.

Carrots? No.

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