In-Laws Arrive + Southwestern Pasta Salad

Thursday

Arthur slept in until 7:45 on Thursday! And, once again, I caught him before he escalated to screaming; as I stumbled blearily to the bathroom, I heard some sounds coming from his room, and opened the door to see him sitting in his crib and smiling at me. It was a nice start to the day.

We had our typical morning, with a susu breakfast, and then some time in the kitchen together, during which he let me know he was hungry, and I tossed him some Cheerios. I then tried to feed him something new: cod liver! It had been on sale, and I figured it was a great source of omega-3’s and other vitamins, as well as a low-mercury way to get in some fish. Unfortunately, Arthur really didn’t like it. I’m determined to get him to eat some somehow, however I need to sneak it in! We’ll see.

Tolerating Papa's affections

Anyways, after a shopping run, Arthur was very ready for a nap, so I was glad when he took one. And boy, did he take a long one - nearly an hour and a half! He was then in a pretty good mood for most of the early afternoon, through his walk with his pops and playtime upstairs.

I tried the cod liver again when it was time for Arthur’s afternoon solid session. To make it more palatable, I smeared it on some slices of boiled sweet potato, and he ate it! After a few bites like that, I was able to give Arthur the liver on its own, and he seemed happy enough to eat it like that. I didn’t give him too much, though, as I read it was a food best introduced in small doses. So afterwards, Arthur had more sweet potato, a couple of pieces of red lentil pasta, and two cream cheese wedges. He didn’t seem too terribly hungry, but I guess it was a slightly disappointing meal after all those pancake lunches.

No nap for Boobookins for the rest of the day. I can’t say I was surprised, but I was a bit disgruntled about that. Ah well, at least he was in a pretty reasonable mood for the rest of the afternoon and evening, though I still think a nap wouldn’t have hurt him. Arthur’s dinner was more of the soy peach chia “pudding” from the previous day. He finished it off, but honestly seemed a bit dazed by that point. I think he was very ready for bed!

So, on Thursday, Arthur ate:

• Cheerios

• cod liver (new food!)

• sweet potato

• red lentil pasta

• cream cheese

• peach chia pudding (peach, soy yogurt, chia seeds, flax seeds, shredded coconut)

Friday

Arthur woke up at 6:40 on Friday. Nobody was thrilled about this regression to early mornings, especially not his pops, who had to spend most of the day driving to and from the Hague; Nagymama's back was acting up, and she wasn't up to the task of riding the train over as originally planned.

Miklós fed Arthur some sweet potato and cream cheese while they waited for me to get up. Then it was nursing, a trip to the store, and the last peach of the batch to tide him over while I unpacked groceries. Unsurprisingly, Arthur crashed pretty quickly when I nursed him a little after 10:00, and slept for about an hour; I was pretty relieved about that.

We tried another variation on pancakes for Arthur's afternoon solid session! I wanted to try a savory version that would pair well with the cod liver, especially as he'll be eating a lot of sweets on his birthday. Plus, we were out of bananas. So I made a batch with chickpea flour (iron!), homemade soy yogurt, hemp hearts, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and an egg, and fried them up in some butter. Arthur didn't seem terribly taken by these. Maybe it will take a few tries. He did eat some, though, and when I smeared peanut butter on them, was slightly more enthusiastic I guess. Honestly, he seemed more into the cod liver, which I served him between pancakes, than the pancakes themselves. He also had a few more pieces of sweet potato and half a kiwi. The kiwi was by far the most well-received.

Happily chilling as long as Mama's there to function as a backrest

We spent much of the afternoon chilling upstairs, before Nagymama and Nagypapa arrived a bit before 5:00. At one point, I gave Arthur a handful of Cheerios to keep him occupied. He was fairly sweet and good-natured, but only when I was within hand's reach; he really wanted to be on top of me.

I was kind of surprised by Arthur's reaction to his nagypapa. The second he walked in the door, Arthur panicked and started wailing. It was a little like when that inspector guy came in to the house. He wasn't bothered by Nagymama at all, and even smiled at her, but Nagypapa really freaked him out. It seems unknown men in his home are a bit of a terror for Arthur Newt. I'm curious to see how he reacts to Gábor tomorrow.

Anyway, Arthur slowly warmed up to his grandfather, and within half an hour was perfectly happy around him, so at least his big man anxiety there didn't last too long. He charmed and awed his grandparents with his new crawling and standing skills upstairs for a while, and then we all had dinner together. Arthur's was a repeat of his lunch, more or less: chickpea pancakes, sweet potato, and kiwi. He seemed a bit more enthusiastic about the pancakes this time, though once again, it was the kiwi that stole the meal's show for Arthur.

So that brings Arthur's last day of "baby" eats to:

• sweet potato

• cream cheese

• peach

• chickpea pancakes (chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, homemade soy yogurt, hemp hearts, egg, butter)

• cod liver

• peanut butter

• kiwi

• Cheerios

The adults, meanwhile, enjoyed takeout on Friday, after everyone had arrived. On Thursday, however, I tried yet another pasta salad! It was inspired by this Instagram post. I kept the dressing the same, but simplified the rest of the ingredients; I really like her recipes, but they're often pretty involved and ingredient-heavy. And it turned out great! Even Miklós enthused about it, so I guess it'll be a repeat dinner. Here's how I made it:

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Southwestern Pasta Salad (serves 2 hungry parents)

Ingredients

• 250g pasta of choice (I used red lentil rotini)

• 1 small tin (130g, drained) black beans (probably other beans would work fine here)

• 100g shredded iceberg lettuce/other leafy greens of choice

• 1 red bell pepper, chopped (I roasted mine, but raw would probably be fine, too)

• a handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

• a handful of spring onions, chopped

• optional additions I didn't end up using: corn, pumpkin seeds, avocado, cheese, etc.

• Dressing:

  • ½ cup Greek yogurt

  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast

  • 2 tbsp lime juice

  • 1 tsp chipotle paste

  • 1 garlic clove, minced

  • ½ tsp salt

  • ¼ cup water

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta according to directions. Drain, and rinse under cold water to stop any cooking and cool it down further.

2. Chop all the veggies, and add them to the cold pasta.

3. Whisk together all the dressing ingredients, and pour it over the pasta.

4. Mix thoroughly, then leave in the fridge to marinate for at least an hour.

5. Enjoy cold!