Consultatie Bureau, Standing + Chinese Tomato Eggs
- 3 hours ago
- 9 min read
Monday
Arthur did a great job sleeping Sunday night; he didn’t wake up once during the night, and slept in until 7:00 on Monday! Miklós thinks he would have slept in longer, but he woke up when his dad tried to sneak out of the bedroom, sat up ramrod straight in his bed again, and started wailing.
As usual, Papa worked on his morning puzzles while feeding Arthur some solids. This time it was a peach and half a banana. Then it was another susu breakfast on Mama, and some play time in his room upstairs, where Arthur left a slime trail of drool behind him everywhere he went, like a snail. After a trip to Albert Heijn, Arthur had another susu breakfast (I have to say, he was hungry this morning), during which he strongly resisted taking his usual morning nap. I guess the later wakeup meant he had more energy. So we took a 15 minute break, tried again, and the bug crashed. I was very happy about that.
After his nap, Arthur was in a very sweet mood, throughout running an errand with his pops and playing with his mom. Then it was time for his usual afternoon snack with Mama! Arthur had a massive appetite at this point. He started off by finishing off the sweet potato-beef baby food purée from the previous day. I added a bit of toasted sesame oil to it so that he would get that allergen in, and he seemed to still enjoy it even with the strange addition; in any case, he inhaled the stuff, grunting for more while the spoon was still in his mouth. We followed it up with two wedges of cream cheese, two handfuls of Cheerios, several spoonfuls of homemade fat-free Greek yogurt mixed with lots of shredded coconut, and some more sweet potato chips, Arthur grunting the entire time for more. The boy is going to eat us out of house and home!
I wasn’t terribly surprised when Arthur showed no inclination of napping on me during his 3:00 nursing session; he had, after all, had a later morning nap than usual. Instead, he happily played with the books on the bottom shelf in my room, and crawled onto and off of my mattress - I was pretty impressed by that one! He was in a really funny mood, and seemed to really enjoy climbing up onto and down from the mattress, giggling up a storm as he did so. He also loved rubbing his feet on the mattress and listening to the sound they made. It was pretty adorable.
In a typical Arthur move, the little man fell asleep during the last 15 minutes of his 4:00 walk with his dad. We left him in the stroller downstairs, and I kept an eye on him as he continued to doze for another 15 minutes, waking up when I turned the kitchen light on in his face. But at least he got around 45 minutes of sleep, or a full cycle! I have to say, he was pretty thirsty when he woke up, though.
Arthur’s dinner was yet another orzo-lentil iteration that I cooked up earlier in the day. This one had yellow bell pepper purée, whole-wheat orzo, red lentils, TVP, summer savory/borsikafũ, thyme, and olive oil. I would say he wasn’t super into it, but he ate a decent amount of it.
Which brings Arthur’s Monday meals to:
peach
banana
ready-made baby food purée (carrots, sweet potato, beef, zucchini, corn meal, leek, canola oil)
toasted sesame oil
cream cheese
Cheerios
homemade fat-free Greek yogurt
shredded coconut
sweet potato chips
yet another Mama Delight (yellow bell pepper purée, whole-wheat orzo, red lentils, TVP, summer savory/borsikafũ, thyme, olive oil)
Tuesday
Arthur slept in until 7:20 on Tuesday morning. 7:20! Maybe the noise machine helped - in fit of desperation, Miklós had brought it back out to help Arthur sleep through the night. Either way, I’ll take it.
As usual, Miklós fed Arthur some solids to pass the time until I rolled out of bed. This morning it was more of the latest iteration of orzo-lentil delight. When I was up and situated, Miklós let Arthur loose upstairs, and he made a beeline to my chair. When he reached the chair, however, he got a bit frustrated, unsure of how to clamber up onto me when I was so high up.
Despite having had such a good night’s sleep, Arthur was in a pretty fussy mood for most of the morning. At one point I fed him some Cheerios in a desperate attempt to pacify him; at another, I nursed him an additional time while I was sitting on the floor next to him - maybe he’s just going through a growth spurt and was extra hungry. I don’t know. Ah well, at least he fell asleep on me during his 10:00 nursing session, which he seemed to need.
I ended up waking Arthur up after more than an hour of napping, because we had an appointment at Consultatie Bureau, our first one in months! We set out a bit before noon, and a well-rested Arthur was very chill for the entire appointment. I guess it helped that this one didn’t include any vaccinations. But everything looked great - Arthur is 8.88kg now, which puts him up in the 29th percentile, and his length (76cm) and head circumference (47cm) are both above average. So the trip was a success!
We made it home in time for Arthur’s usual 1:00 nursing session, and the little tyke happily spent some time playing upstairs. Then, for his afternoon snack, Arthur’s massive appetite was in full-swing once again. He first ate some Cheerios, followed by a fairly large peach. His appetite merely whetted at that point, Arthur then proceeded to polish off the Mama’s Delight, two wedges of cream cheese, and a serving of another ready-made baby food purée I frantically opened as he grunted. This one was a chunky spaghetti bolognese, consisting of tomatoes, carrot slices, pasta made with eggs and wheat, beef, corn starch, and basil. Arthur had a blast smearing it all over his high chair tray and his hair!
Arthur did not nap on me during his 3:00 nursing session. Instead, he once again had a blast crawling onto and off of my mattress. Hey, whatever floats your boat and isn’t a pain in the butt for me to clean up after! Then it was time for his usual 4:00 walk with Papa, during which he also didn’t nap. I figured for sure he’d sleep when I nursed him at 5:00, but he steadfastly refused to do so then, so we figured we were in for a fun evening.
Actually, we couldn’t really complain - Arthur was mostly pretty happy to explore and climb on things and babble. He was another hungry hungry hippo at dinner time, and nearly finished off the spaghetti bolognese purée. Still, he had a good appetite for a susu dessert before it was off for a much-needed bedtime!
So, on Tuesday, Arthur ate:
the latest Mama Delight (yellow bell pepper purée, whole-wheat orzo, red lentils, TVP, summer savory/borsikafũ, thyme, olive oil)
Cheerios
peach
cream cheese
spaghetti bolognese baby food purée (tomatoes, carrot slices, pasta made with eggs and wheat, beef, corn starch, basil)
Wednesday
I have to say, this white noise machine is amazing. Or maybe Arthur just needed some extra sleep after a one-nap day. Either way, he slept amazingly well! At 8:10, I was starting to get a bit concerned, and went up to his bedroom and listened at the door. Hearing something that sounded like coos, I cracked the door open to see Arthur lying contentedly in his crib with his eyes wide open. He gave me a big smile when he saw me, and was very smiley and happy as I unzipped his sleep sack and picked him up. Usually he's a bit worked up by the time I'm getting him out of his crib, so this was a lovely change!
The little guy was quite lovely for most of the morning. He had fun pulling on my long skirt, and, I think, trying to say "Mama" - I really feel like he's using this "Bamba" or something similar in relation to me, at least for the past two days. Lately he's also been pulling up to stand a little bit, though mostly on very low objects, which means that he doesn't end up standing so much as doing a downward dog/standing hybrid. But today, he was even more motivated, and fully pulled himself up to stand a couple of times, both using me for leverage and using the bed! He seems really motivated by the concept of crawling up onto the bed (maybe the on and off of my mattress the past couple of days was an incentive?), so I tend to boost him up there as a reward after he pulls himself up to stand using it. I have to be careful though, because he also shows an inclination to crawl off the bed...
After his first susu session of the day, Arthur and I set off for the store. When we returned, I gave Arthur a handful of sweet potato chips to keep him occupied while I unpacked groceries, and to tide him over until the next dose of breast milk. Though I tried several times between 10:30 and 11:45, Arthur really resisted going down for his usual morning nap. I guess that's the consequence of a good night's sleep. So instead, it was more playing upstairs (he was still being quite sweet and affectionate), standing and crawling practice, and quite a bit more spit-upping and pooping than I would have preferred.
Arthur finally crashed when I nursed him a bit before 1:00. He slept for nearly an hour, so was freshly rested for his afternoon snack! Arthur started off by finishing off the spaghetti bolognese baby food purée. Then he enjoyed some polenta/grits that I had cooked up with ghee, along with some jarred green peas, both mixed with the grits and smashed on their own. He also had a spoonful of my homemade nacho hummus (containing chickpeas, nutritional yeast, tomato paste, olive oil, and ACV), and a serving of a ready-made apple-carrot-banana baby food purée, which I mixed with shredded coconut and broken flax seeds. Finally, we finished off with some pieces of an aged cheese slice. This was by far Arthur's favorite part of the meal; the boy really is a cheesehead!
I didn't expect Arthur to nap during his 3:00 nursing session after his morning nap was over two hours later than usual. Instead, we had more fun on the mat upstairs. The little guy pulled up to stand over and over again, using both my body and the bed. It's funny, but he seems to have approached it kind of like crawling - once he decided he was ready, it's been nonstop. I'm honestly pretty impressed at how persistent he's been about it over the course of the day. He also started doing this funny little thing today, where he wrinkles up his nose, squints his eyes, and breathes in and out really rapidly. I have no idea what it's about (does something stink?) but it cracks me up.
I was hoping Arthur would take a second nap at his 5:00 nursing session, but he seemed to have no desire to do so. I suppose, like Miklós said, he had gotten enough sleep over the night that he really only needed one nap during the day. All together, he still got plenty of sleep in 24 hours. So, instead, Arthur cracked himself up by crawling onto and off of my mattress again, then showed off his new standing skills to his Papa.
Arthur's dinner was basically just several components from his afternoon snack, mixed together and microwaved: grits, peas, and pieces of aged cheese. He was very enthusiastic about this combo, and devoured quite a large portion!
So, on Wednesday, Arthur's solid menu was:
sweet potato chips
grits/polenta (corn meal, ghee)
spaghetti bolognese baby food purée (tomatoes, carrot slices, pasta made with eggs and wheat, beef, corn starch, basil)
jarred peas
homemade nacho hummus (chickpeas, nutritional yeast, tomato paste, olive oil, ACV)
fruity baby food purée (apple, carrot, banana)
shredded coconut
broken flax seed
old cheese
As for Mama and Papa? I tried two new recipes on Tuesday and Wednesday, and both were hits! I'll post Wednesday's first. Tomatoes were on sale, and I was excited about this Chinese tomato egg stir-fry recipe I found online. It looked easy and delicious, and turned out to follow through on both accounts! I served it with some freshly cooked rice and spicy shiitake mushrooms, and it was a really nice meal, something Miklós and I both happily devoured. It will definitely be a repeat meal for us! I mostly followed the recipe as written, with just one or two minor tweaks. Here's how I made it:
Easy Chinese Tomato Egg Stir-Fry (serves 2 hungry people)
Ingredients
Eggs:
4 eggs
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ tbsp olive oil
Tomatoes:
½ tbsp olive oil
3 tomatoes, diced (she used roma; I used pretty big tomatoes instead - just under 500g total)
2 green onions, diced, white and green parts separated
4 cloves garlic (I used 4 tsp pre-minced garlic)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar, or equivalent (I used several drops of liquid sucralose)
rice, for serving (I cooked 1 cup mixed brown and white rice with 1 ½ cups water with 1 tsp salt in the rice cooker)
Instructions
Whisk together the eggs and 1 tbsp soy sauce. Set aside.
Add ½ tbsp olive oil to a pan over medium heat. Sauté the garlic and white slices of green onion for a minute or two, until tender and fragrant.
Add the tomatoes, and sauté for a few minutes to combine. Add the sweetener and 1 tbsp soy sauce, and stir to combine.
Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Add another ½ tbsp olive oil to the pan, and turn up heat to medium-high.
Pour in the egg-soy sauce mixture, then once the eggs begin to set, continually push the edges of the eggs in towards the center of the mixture.
Continue doing this until eggs are about 80% cooked, or still a bit wet.
Add the remaining green onions, and let the residual heat from the pan finish cooking the eggs.
Serve immediately with hot steamy rice and ENJOY!
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