The disintegration of a baby mum-mum

Asher started eating baby mum-mums a couple of weeks ago. He loves them, as you can see...

I've been working in the kitchen, all the live long day...

This morning at Kindermusik, Asher and I played with some drums and then some ice cream containers (as pretend drums). I didn't think he'd be into this yet, but he really was! So this afternoon we're just hanging out in the kitchen playing with some kitchen "stuff". So fun!

PS - Asher can sit by himself for a long time when he's occupied!

Monday's observations: Greg's eating habits edition

When Greg and I got married, I was thrilled that he was willing to eat a completely vegetarian diet at home in order to accommodate my choice to be a vegetarian. Don't get me wrong, he still loves his meat whenever we're out somewhere, but he's not the kind of guy that needs it everyday in order to be satisfied (I so want to insert a "that's what she said" in there but... oh well, I guess I just did!). So I thought our food journey as a married couple would be wonderful, because I totally didn't have to think about meat. Turns out I was wrong.

You see, Greg is a really picky eater, although he would never admit that. Here are some tidbits I have to keep in mind every stinkin' meal I make.

* Loves pizza. But not pizza on pita breads, or pizza using pesto as a sauce, or pizza with big chunks of vegetables on it.

* Loves pasta. But only pasta with a "thick" cream based sauce. This rules out any olive oil based sauces, or pesto.

* Ethnic foods are usually OK.

* Vegetables must be cut into small enough chunks that he can barely notice they're there.

* Does not like: feta cheese, celery, asparagus, pineapple, cold peas, anything ending in "eppers" (read: peppers), anything ending in "erry" (read: strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, cranberry, etc.) and bananas without brown spots.

* Will tolerate (and by tolerate I mean won't gag to death): cauliflower, carrots, corn, tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, and spinach.

* Still have not uncovered the deal with beans. Sometimes they are OK, and other times they are not. Lentils are a definite no deal. This can make things challenging when you're cooking vegetarian.

* Recipe's are often deemed "good" if they have anything with a bread texture in them.

* Soup can never, ever be considered a meal. Neither can salad.

* When consuming salad, it is best to roll the lettuce leaves up into a tight wound ball, and eat it in 2 bites.

* Anything covered in cheese or cream of mushroom soup gets a thumbs up.

It's sort of a lot to consider, don't you think? So I started getting Greg to rate the recipes I make on a 1 to 10 scale, and take little notes so I'll remember what he liked about it and what he didn't (sort of ridiculous, huh? But it works!). Here's 2 such recipes from last week:

They both got 9/10! I want Greg to enjoy our meals, but my goal isn't that he is going to love every single one. That's just not realistic. And be sure that love salad will still find its way on our menu from time to time! I had no idea that food preferences would play such a big role in our world.

Thankfully Greg doesn't do the cooking or all we'd eat would be sidekicks, Kraft dinner, and some burger or nugget variation.

Dear Lord, please don't let Asher follow in Greg's footsteps with his food preferences!

photo updates

* Proof that we actually went to Mother Goose; a booklet we got as a gift with our picture on the front and all the words to the songs and rhymes we learnt. I'm not just guessing at them anymore! And I learned that Charlie Chapman's name is actually Charlie Chaplain. Oops!

* Asher's swimming lesson report card for November. Danielle, our instructor, again put it rather nicely by saying "comfortable getting face wet" rather than the truth, which would have been "looks stunned, coughs and only partially cries after dunking underwater".

* The new back pack carrier we got because Asher is getting rather heavy for the Moby Wrap. Bummer. He seems quite happy in this, though!

fairwell Mother Goose

Today is a sad day because it's our very last Mother Goose class. Asher and I have really come to love the rhymes and songs we've learned, so much so that we use them at home all the time! It makes my heart smile when I start to say or sing one, and Asher looks at me and smiles or kicks because he recognizes it. Here's one of his favorites; Charlie Chapman!

Monday's observations

* My heart always jumps a beat with worry when I see my family calling long distance in the middle of the afternoon. Thankfully it was just about Christmas.

* Paying $6.50 to get into a craft fair is sort of ridiculous, don't you think?

* I always cry at weddings. Even if it's just a little.

* It REALLY sucks when one of your favorite sweaters gets a hole in it. Really sucks.

* Asher is finally big and strong enough to sit in the "top-basket-where-the-kid-goes" of a shopping cart. Whoo hoo! This means I don't always have to drag his car seat in everywhere we go, which is great, since he's getting so freaking big!

* You know you love your friends when let them store their chicken in your freezer and you're a vegetarian.

* For the first time ever, my husband came shopping with me, for me. It was great, and he didn't even complain. I'm not yet convinced that he didn't have ulterior motives.

* In case you weren't aware, the new Guns and Roses album came out recently, which means that I've had the pleasure if hearing it everywhere I've been for the past day now. Even the washroom. Great.

* It is a slight miracle that I was able to go to the mall and not get a White Mocca from Second Cup. I must be coming down with something.

* 6-month old baby boys need to have their naps, even if they don't want to. The results can be pretty ugly if it doesn't happen.

* 6-month old baby boys should stay 6-months old forever. I LOVE this age and I can't believe that Asher will be 7-months old this week. How did that happen?

snow bunny

It snowed here today for the first time this season, so I brought Asher out to see what he thought of it. We only managed to stay outside for about 2.5 minutes before he had his mittens and boots kicked off. I think this is going to be a long winter!