Contract Signed! + Ratatouille
Saturday
It was another rough night for Arthur and Papa; the little dude woke up twice in the middle of the night (going back to sleep on his own both times, but definitely messing with his pop's sleep). It was 6:00 when the two boys woke up for good, and Miklós fed Arthur some more of the zucchini-potato-pea purée and a peach while he did his morning puzzles. The purée was supposedly not much of a hit with the bug, but the peach sure was!
After his 8:00 susu session, Arthur went for a walk with his dad while Mama did pilates. Arthur napped for 40-45 minutes on his walk (which was in blessedly cooler weather), so he didn’t take his usual 10:00 or 10:30 morning nap. That was fine with us, because we had some important work to attend to: we had just signed a contract for our NEW HOUSE and it was time to celebrate with a glass of something. So, once Arthur was finished with his drink, his parents had theirs, toasting to an exciting new chapter in our lives. While we boozed up, Arthur had some more sweet potato chips, so he had a treat as well!
Arthur was in a great mood for most of the morning; he was even content on his own in the room for over half an hour so his parents could continue their celebrating with some special time. Maybe he was pretty happy about the house, too. Afterwards, he accompanied Mama to Albert Heijn and spent some more time with her on the mat upstairs, crawling on top of her to snuggle.
Actually, I was really impressed; at one point, I let him crawl out of the room, and he made a beeline for the bathroom, where he knows that enticing shelf full of vitamin containers is. The door was partially shut, but that didn’t stop him; he knew enough to immediately open it up so he could enter the room!
By the time his afternoon snack rolled around, Arthur was starting to fade, and was pretty darn fussy. Still, he finished off the rest of the omelette from the previous day, as well as a few more sweet potato chips. And luckily he crashed pretty quickly when I stuck him on my boob at 3:00. After an hour and 15 minutes, I ended up waking him up, and he seemed in a much rosier mood.
So, a cheerful Arthur accompanied his dad on another walk before coming home to video-chat with Oma. He started getting a bit restless at that point, and Miklós had some fun with him upstairs while I was cooking dinner. Apparently Arthur managed to do a massive poop that went nearly up to his waist, and while getting his diaper changed, reached for his poopy wiener. Miklós took a page out of my book, and rubbed some hand sanitizer on Arthur’s hand afterwards. What a little savage.
For his dinner, I fed Arthur the rest of the potato-pea-zucchini purée, mixed with a bit of peanut butter to make it more enticing. The peanut butter did indeed do the trick, and he wolfed the stuff down! So, I opened a new jar of ready-made baby food purée. Miklós and I were eating ratatouille for dinner, so I opted to give Arthur a similar dish, a “Mediterranean vegetable” purée, which contained potatoes, tomato pasta, zucchini, eggplant, red pepper, milk powder, onion, rice meal, canola oil, basil, and oregano. So quite similar, just a bit mushier. He tolerated it fine, but wasn’t as excited about it as his peanut butter delight. He was starting to get really fussy by then, so I decided to see if something else would appeal to him more, and gave him a couple of pieces of my homemade focaccia. I think he liked this a bit more than the purée, but he was starting to spiral at that point, and it was kind of all downhill from there. So, it was a quick bedtime susu session and off to bed for Arthur!
So, on Saturday, Arthur ate:
baby food purée (potato, pea, zucchini)
peach
sweet potato chips
Mamalette (egg, paprika, onion powder, pizza seasoning, garlic-infused olive oil, old cheese)
peanut butter
Mediterranean vegetable baby food purée (potatoes, tomato pasta, zucchini, eggplant, red pepper, milk powder, onion, rice meal, canola oil, basil, oregano)
homemade focaccia (spelt flour, yeast, garlic-infused olive oil)
Sunday
It was a 6:30 wakeup for Arthur Newt on Sunday morning. Miklós wasn't terribly thrilled, although at least the little guy had no night wake-ups this time. Still, he wasn't giving himself the chance to fall back asleep like he often would in the past; he sat up and wailed. Possibly he doesn't need as much sleep as he gets older. Or maybe it's a regression. Either way, we'll have to ask about it at the Consultatie Bureau when we take him on Tuesday.
As usual, Miklós fed Arthur some breakfast while they desperately waited for boobies. This morning, it was a peach more of the Mediterranean vegetable baby food purée, and a few Cheerios. By the time Arthur got to my boobs, he was in a pretty rotten mood, I have to say, and threw a full-out tantrum when I didn't switch boobs quickly enough for him.
Papa saved the day and whisked Arthur off on a walk as soon as he was done with liquid breakfast #1, and Arthur crashed pretty quickly in the stroller, sleeping for a full sleep cycle. Back at home, he had a bath and another breakfast, and then we were off on our usual Sunday vlaai hunt!
Arthur was in a pretty good mood for much of the afternoon, though once again starting to fade at his afternoon snack time. He did have a good appetite, though! First, Arthur finished off the Mediterranean vegetable purée. I mixed some almond meal in with his first serving, for the allergen exposure, and some ground flax seed in with the second, for the omega-3 fatty acids. We followed it up with a peach, two cream cheese wedges, a couple of Cheerios, and some more of those sweet potato chips. Arthur was a fan of it all, especially the cheese, I think. As I've said before, the boy is Dutch.
I was very happy when Arthur crashed on me during his 3:00 nursing session. And he crashed hard - I ended up waking him up after an hour and a half because I desperately needed to use the toilet. Afterwards, he was, as he usually is post-nap, in a pretty sweet mood, and happily entertained himself in the upstairs bedroom for quite some time, pulling himself up to his knees several times, and, when I propped him on his feet against the bed, using it to support himself on his legs!
The parents were having Miklós's famous sweet potato quiche for their Sunday supper, now that the weather was cool enough to bake again. Once again, I tried to give Arthur a baby food purée that somewhat matched what we were eating. This one was a ready-made purée containing carrots, sweet potato, beef, zucchini, corn meal, leek, and canola oil, so, you know, at least one of the ingredients matched our own meal! And Arthur certainly seemed to like it; he wolfed down half the container in no time at all, grunting repeatedly whenever the spoon wasn't in his mouth.
And that brings Arthur's Sunday solids to:
peach
Cheerios
Mediterranean vegetable baby food purée (potatoes, tomato pasta, zucchini, eggplant, red pepper, milk powder, onion, rice meal, canola oil, basil, oregano)
almond meal
ground flax seed
cream cheese
sweet potato chips
ready-made baby food purée (carrots, sweet potato, beef, zucchini, corn meal, leek, canola oil)
We've been having a lovely cool spell the past couple of days, and I've been taking full advantage of it to cook up some hot food for a change! On Saturday, I decided to try a traditional French ratatouille - it's something I've wanted to make for a while, and all these summer vegetables are on sale these days, so it seemed like the right time. I found this recipe online, which seemed pretty authentic, so I followed it pretty closely - the only swaps I made were reducing the zucchini to a single one (they really aren't my favorite vegetables), and swapping a mixture of summer savory and thyme for the herbes de Provence, which I didn't have. I also added in some lupini beans at the end to give the dish some protein, as I was serving it as a main, along with some focaccia. Other than that, I think I followed it to a T! It turned out pretty lovely, despite the simple ingredients - it's quite a bit like lecsó in that regard. There was a lot of chopping involved, and the veggies all had to be cooked separately, so it was a bit time-consuming, but I think I'll return to this recipe! It paired perfectly with the fresh batch of focaccia I cooked up, too! Here's how I made it:
Classic French Ratatouille (serves 2 very hungry people as a main, or 4 as a side)
Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
1 eggplant, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow/orange bell pepper, diced
6 fresh tomatoes, coarsely chopped (mine weighed 800g)
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced (I used 2 small red onions)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp herbes de Provence (I swapped a mixture of summer savory and thyme)
salt and pepper, to taste
optional: beans/tofu/chicken/edamame/veggie meat/eggs/etc., for protein, if serving as a main (I served it with some lupini beans mixed in)
optional: crusty bread to serve (this pairs great with homemade focaccia!)
Instructions
Start by chopping up all the vegetables ahead of time, or at least the eggplant, zucchini, and bell peppers.
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a thick pan or pot over high heat (I used level 8/10). Add in the eggplant, season with salt & pepper, and cooked until brown on the outside but still crispy - about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and place in a bowl.
Add another tbsp olive oil to the pan, and repeat the process for the zucchini, adding them to the bowl with the eggplant when finished.
Repeat for the bell peppers, adding them to the same bowl when finished.
In the same pan, sauté the onion and garlic until translucent.
Add in the tomatoes, and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.
Fold in the cooked vegetables along with the herbes de Provence.
Cook covered over very low heat for 20 minutes or so, stirring only occasionally so that the vegetables don't get too mushy.
If you're adding a protein, add this in at the end, then plate and serve warm, preferably with some crusty bread!
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