Cakes: The Angel + Black Bean Variety

Tuesday

Arthur slept in until 8:00 on Tuesday! 8:00!!! I was amazed. It was especially nice because Mklós was going in to the office, and I was on my own with the little dude, so having a bit of time in the morning

I don't know why I'm worried about the flight to the states - clearly Arthur likes planes!

to myself before he got up was very much appreciated.

Arthur wasn’t terribly hungry for breakfast; maybe that’s part of the reason he slept in. So instead, he helped me prepare some things in the kitchen before his second breakfast of the day. I was using the stick blender and the food processor, so I opted to put Arthur in the baby carrier, as he panics when he hears the loud noise. It was really sweet, though, when I was running the machines, he reached for my hand, and squeezed it. He really responds when I squeeze his hand, and squeezes back, and it absolutely warms my heart. Sometimes I'd take a break to scrape down the food processor, but as soon as I started it again, he'd be reaching for my hand and a comforting squeeze. It was too darling.

Afterwards, we did some more crawling practice. Arthur didn’t make much progress, but when he was tired of being on his hands and knees, he gently lowered his head to the mat by bending his arms, and then very deliberately flipped over onto his back, so I was proud of him for doing something about it!

Arthur took a nice nap during his second breakfast, and was ready for an Albert Heijn date with his mama. Upon returning, I sat him in the high chair and fed him more homemade puffs while I unpacked the groceries. He seems to have just discovered how to blow raspberries, and was kept happily occupied with that as well. He especially loved it when I would blow them in return; Arthur tends to communicate by back-and-forth weird mouth noises with others.

Unfortunately, despite beginning to drift off at the beginning of his 1:00 nursing session, Arthur changed his mind after a few minutes and decided he wouldn’t nap then. But he was still in a reasonable mood for his afternoon snack, despite the lack of sleep. Maybe since he had slept so much during the night, he didn’t need the nap then.

I was making bean burgers for our dinner tonight, so I decided to let Arthur try some beans! I smashed a couple of kidney beans and let Arthur taste them. He wasn’t terribly enthusiastic about them. I think they were maybe too fibrous for him or something; the skin seemed a little hard for him to handle. So I followed it up with some more apple-peach-sweet potato purée mixed with formula powder for some added fiber and vitamin C, and he was much happier to devour that.

During his 3:00 nursing session, the lack of sleep seemed to have caught up to Arthur, and he crashed hard. I was relieved; he had been rubbing his eyes and starting to fade towards the end of his snack. He was in quite a good mood afterwards, and spent his 5:00 nursing session sucking for a long time without any real hunger while smiling at me. It was pretty sweet.

He remained in a good mood throughout his solid dinner, which consisted of more red oatmeal. And Arthur was more enthusiastic about the oatmeal than he had been the previous two nights, eating the large serving quickly and without complaint!

So, Arthur’s Tuesday solid extravaganza came to:

• kidney beans (new food!)

• homemade puffs: whole wheat flour, toasted sesame oil, cauliflower purée, sweet potato purée, egg yolk

• spices: onion powder, thyme, borsikafű

• oatmeal

• achiote seeds

• olive oil

• formula (milk powder)

• apple purée

• peach purée

• sweet potato purée

Wednesday

Arthur slept in until 8 again today! And he didn’t even cry when he woke up; I just heard some noises coming from his room and opened the door to peek in, and he was wide awake but content just lying there in his crib looking at his hands. He smiled widely when he saw me, and was very happy to snuggle with me for a minute, though was less happy when I handed him off to Miklós so I could make myself a cup of tea.

I have to say, that part’s a bit gratifying. He may say dada much more than he says mama, and always smiles when his dad enters the room, but when he’s upset or wants comfort, he seems to prefer to be with me over anyone else.

Arthur took a while to fall asleep during his 10:00 nursing session, despite having just had a bath beforehand. And then after only sleeping for 15 minutes or so, he choked on something in his sleep, freaked out a little, and woke up, and there was no going down after that. So he didn’t get as much sleep as he really should have then.

And while he crashed quickly at his 1:00 nursing session, Arthur only slept for about half an hour then. Still, he was in a great mood, so maybe he didn’t need as much napping after such a long stretch of nighttime sleep. He was cracking up while Miklós shook out the wet laundry; apparently that’s a hoot and a riot. It’s always amusing to see what tickles his funny bone; sometimes it can be the strangest things! Arthur giggled quite a bit during snack time as well; apparently whenever I bend down below his sight line, it’s hilarious.

Getting plenty of use out of our new smock bib!

As for his solid snack, Arthur had a good appetite! He started off with some kidney beans, which smashed plain weren’t a hit, but mushed with a tiny bit of peanut butter were an instant success! We followed that up with the rest of the apple-peach-sweet potato purée, first mixed with formula powder, then with almond meal and sesame seeds added in as well. He loved all the iterations of the stuff. The grand finale was more cup drinking; he was so so happy about the enthusiasm I showed about his drinking. The little guy has honestly been a total angel the entire day.

Luckily, said angel finally crashed long and hard during his 5:00 nursing session. Then, for his dinner, Arthur polished off the rest of the red oatmeal, which I was happy about. He seemed pretty enthusiastic about it this time (finally!), and would have happily eaten more, I think, but it was time for another nursing session (during which he continued to be giggly and adorable) and then bedtime for bonzo!

So, on Wednesday, Arthur ate:

• kidney beans

• peanut butter

• sweet potato purée

• apple purée

• peach purée

• formula (milk powder)

• almond meal

• sesame seeds

• oats

• achiote seeds

• onion powder

Miklós and I, meanwhile, enjoyed a new pasta recipe that was really tasty, and I will post it, but first I'll leave the recipe I followed for the black bean burgers I made on Tuesday. They were were maybe a bit crumbly, but absolutely delicious, and I want to make them again at some point. I followed this recipe pretty closely, with just one or two minor tweaks. Here's how I made them:

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Yummy Black Bean Burgers (makes 4 burgers)

Ingredients

• 2 cups (340 grams) canned black beans , drained (my can was only 240g, so I supplemented the additional with kidney beans)

• 4 green onions , chopped finely

• 2 tbsp lime juice

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• ¼ cup (4 tablespoons) ground flax seed

• 1 big handful cilantro , chopped

• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

• a sprinkle of crushed chili flakes

• MSG, to taste (optional)

• 4 tbsp vegan BBQ sauce (optional)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, mash the beans with a fork until they are pretty mushy, but with some chunks in still.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients, and mix well

3. Let sit at least 15 minutes so the flax seeds have time to thicken up.

4. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

5. Form the bean mixture into four balls with your hands, then flatten on the tray into burger shapes.

6. Bake about 25 minutes, or until a bit crusty on the outside.

7. Remove from the oven, and brush with the BBQ sauce if using.

8. Enjoy warm!