TMI Tuesday: Hungry Baby

The whole back and forth during meal time is something that we expected to encounter with our some but we were happily unaware of many of the factors that come into play during these parts of our daily routine. Our son can be fickle at times when it comes to what he wants to eat. Sometimes he doesn’t like the taste of something while other time he simply prefers having something else, something he knows he likes better than what is being offered. It is a back and forth at times but something that we remain cognizant of as we don’t want his pickiness to persist.

However, lately there has been a different issue that has arisen during meal times that has him turning his nose up at certain foods being offered. There actually three reasons that we have discovered for his disagreement actually. The first is that he has so many teeth coming in that there are some foods that do not agree with swollen gums and new oral protrusions. The texture has to be just right at times. The second sometimes relates to the first as he is now preferring larger pieces of food… too small and he will sometimes refuse to eat, too big and we are cleaning up more than pieces dropped on the floor. Too hot or cold will also result in the same kind of reaction. I guess you could call all of these things contributing factors to the Goldilocks conundrum.  

When all of these things are at play at the same time it can make for quite the difficult meal and usually ends with various pieces of edible confetti strewn about the kitchen floor. Other times everything goes as ‘planned’ or at least pretty close and he stuffs his face like he is late for a meeting or something. The latter is particularly funny when we give him a whole cereal bar and he proceeds to devour it just as fast if not faster than most adults.

Overall, we have learned to not get in the way of a hungry baby as there is a possibility that you might lose a finger in the process. Mmmmm, meaty! In fact, we try to give him his space once we put food on his tray as there are times when he won’t eat if someone is watching him. This works out for us as we can either get a few things done in the kitchen or, gasp, eat dinner at the same time. After all, that is the goal that we are working toward as we want this to be a time spent with family around the dinner table.

Teacoholics

I have always been a coffee drinker. Even in high school I remember having a cup of Folgers instant coffee every morning before leaving the house. In recent years my consumption of the caffeinated nectar has increased significantly to the point that our coffee pot just wasn’t enough to keep me satisfied in the morning and night. Keep in mind that my wife doesn’t drink coffee at all so all the drinking was my doing.

My wife on the other hand likes tea. However, there are few options which she likes to drink so, occasionally, she has gotten board of the herbal options that we have found in the stores. So her consumption varies but still has come nowhere near my partaking of the black bean water.

Things began to shift about a week ago when I gave my wife a little surprise winter gift to try and brighten up a dull day. Actually, it was a few gifts that I had gotten when I previously placed holiday orders for my boss and for my niece and had a little extra credit left. I could tell when she opened them that she didn’t really know how she felt about them and whether she would use them or not. The two infuser mugs and a few bags were her first experience with loose tea.

Admittedly, I had also already stored some tea in the cabinet that was more to my taste. I have occasionally had a cup of tea when the mood struck me but I had not been a regular drinker for over a decade. Seeing her hesitance I knew that the best way to really have her see the difference between fresh loose tea and dried out bags would be to start making it and drinking it myself. The result has led me to drinking more tea in the last week than I had for maybe the rest of the year combined.

The transition in my drinking habits was not lost on my wife and today we decided to head over to Teavana in the King of Prussia Mall after dinner tonight so she could pick out a few flavors of her own (obviously I was a little off in my original selections). While we spent a little bit of money at the store all of it was still less money per ounce than tea bags and completely customizable at home which is perfect for both our budget and our divergent taste preferences.

Within 15 minutes of walking back into the apartment, we each had a cup of tea steeping. My wife has now not just seen the difference but tasted it as well and I have rekindled my appreciation for the variety and flavor that tea has to offer. At this point, it is safe to say that we are both Teacoholics.