Days 8, 9 + Single-Serve Banana Coconut Cake
Monday
Arthur woke up at 6:45 on Monday morning. Or at least, that’s when I woke up and heard him wailing. I really hope he wasn’t awake long before then. I do wish he had slept longer though - sure, he got maybe 11 hours of sleep, but given he’s napping less than an hour a day, the sum total is still pretty pitiful. Maybe when Miklós gets back.
Shockingly, Arthur was okay in his bedroom for about three minutes as I used the bathroom and got dressed before he began crying. When I came back to the room to provide solace, he was standing at the baby gate butt naked, his diaper on the floor behind him. My little Houdini!
We ran our usual morning errand, had two solid breakfasts in addition to a liquid one, and went on neighborhood patrol. Arthur’s current favorite food seems to be sourdough toast, with pretty much any topping. Today it was walnut oil and parsnip purée, and he still devoured it. He also tried sour cream - it took two takes before he liked it, but we got there - now he’s very into it, and a proper Hungarian.
Arthur started the day in a pretty good mood. We had a lot of fun on the way back from Lidl in the stroller, with him looking back at me and exploding into giggles when I would reach down and kiss him. But as usual, he began getting tired and fussy as the morning wore on, and refused to take a nap on me. Cue our now-regular 12:00 nap-walk. Once again, he was asleep in ten minutes.
Arthur only slept about 40 minutes, but he didn’t start panicking when he awoke the way he did yesterday. In general, I feel like he’s been more chill today than the last couple of days. I do think he might be teething, however - he’s been sticking his fingers in his mouth regularly the past few days and fussing, like something is bothering him.
When I tried to take a shower, however, Arthur lost it, and cried and screamed the entire ten minutes I was in there. It was not a terribly enjoyable experience. Afterwards, he was fascinated by the pore strip I put on my nose, and kept trying to pull it off.
Arthur also got a bit of a haircut in the afternoon! I love his shaggy hair, and have been avoiding cutting it, but it’s starting to get in his eyes, so I figured I couldn’t put it off any longer. He kept squirming around while I was cutting it of course, so I did it in several chunks, and it’s still a bit crooked. I can imagine I’ll be evening it out over the next week or so, but it’s definitely shorter now!
It’s funny to see how Arthur’s food preferences change so much from day to day, from meal to meal, from hour to hour. At lunch time, all he wanted was starches, and chicken went straight off the side of his high chair tray. But at dinner, he was a complete carnivore! I guess it all balances out.
Bedtime was more or less a repeat of the previous few nights: quick, easy and no tears involved! And now only three more nights after this before Papa’s back!
Tuesday
I woke up right before 7:00 and debated trying to stay in my room silently so as not to wake up Arthur. But nature called and, as usual, he synced with me when I headed to the bathroom. So we started off the day together right away!
Arthur came so close to falling asleep on me when I nursed him at 11; it was hard to see him wrench himself out from his stupor. At least he crashed quickly during our midday napping walk. This was probably the quickest it's taken him to fall asleep yet; he was out like a light in about five minutes, and, as usual, slept just under a full sleep cycle, about 40 minutes.
I feel like his separation anxiety has been extra intense today. At one point when I left the room, he started screaming and wailing with such panic you'd have thought he was in serious peril. Part of the reason might have been that the singing cactus toy he got from Tante Kaila was reminding him to clap his hands if he was happy. He keeps holding out the cactus to me, wanting me to make it sing. He gets a big smile on his face when it does start cranking out a tune, but seems a little unsure about it - if I'm not right next to him when it's making noise, he's somewhat frightened. So that may have been part of the reason he freaked out at that point, but later on, as soon as I started rising up from the floor next to him, he began to cry. Oh Booboo.
Lunchtime was fun, though! We practiced nodding for yes; so far, Arthur's only been shaking his head, but I realized today that he just doesn't know how to nod. I introduced him to freeze-dried banana slices today, which naturally he went gaga over, as they're basically just sugar. And when I did my usual "More?" followed by head nodding and saying "yes," and head shaking and saying "no," he really tried to nod his head. It was kind of this weird rolling motion. So he understands the idea behind it, if not the mechanics! I also taught him "cheers" and he found it hilarious to clink his sippy cup with my mug.
Later in the afternoon, Arthur had quite a lot of fun with Captain Carrot - he kept following the little bunny around and petting him. At times, he would get a little too rough, but when I'd model how to gently stroke his big brother, he seemed to try to imitate me! And Captain Carrot was remarkably tolerant, and even seemed to like Arthur's "strokes."
In the early evening, we had another videocall with Miklós, and Arthur was ecstatic to "see" his papa; he was beaming from ear to ear. It was absolutely darling. And bedtime? Same as the last few nights. We've settled into a pretty regular new routine in Papa's absence.
Now, as for today's recipe? Yet another single-serve banana-containing snack. I pretty much followed this super simple recipe, swapping skyr for Greek yogurt (I imagine quark would work as well) and adding salt and vanilla. And it was lovely! I also like that it was entirely sweetened from the banana and coconut, and it really didn't need any other sweeteners. Sweet indeed. Here's how I made it:
Single-Serve Banana Coconut Mug Cake
Ingredients
1 ripe banana
1 egg
60g Greek yogurt/skyr/quark
3 tbsp shredded unsweetened coconut
pinch of salt (optional, not in the original recipe)
splash of vanilla (optional, not in the original recipe)
Instructions
In a mug or large ramekin, mash the banana well.
Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix until fully combined.
Microwave 4-5 minutes (I did 4½)
Chill for a bit (even 15 minutes is enough) and dig in!
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