Suicidal Toddler + Sofritas

Monday

Arthur slept in until around 7:30 on Monday. He had a massive appetite for breakfast, during which he devoured a number of different foods, his favorite by far being the kiwi. Miklós says these golden kiwis we’ve been giving him are really sweet, so maybe that’s why he’s so crazy about them. Either way, I’d say they’re by far Arthur’s favorite fruit, at least at the moment!

The little dude was in a much better mood this morning than he was the past one. He babbled, crawled, played, and did such a bit spit-up on my lap that it leaked through my shorts and even my underwear! Lovely.

We ended up spending a bit more time on our morning errands than usual, as we went to two stores, and I think Arthur was pretty beat by the time we got home; he was grunting and rubbing his eyes like crazy. Despite that, he really resisted going down for a nap at 10:20. I finally gave up trying a little after 11. He was in a surprisingly good mood given the lack of napping, so I guess I couldn’t complain. At one point, he crawled around to the other side of the bed, and a few minutes later I heard some whimpering. I went over to investigate and he was under the bed! The poor little guy was stuck; he couldn’t figure out how to get his head low enough to get back out. It’s hard being a baby.

Arthur continued his nap strike through his 12:00 walk with his pops. Luckily, when he got to my boob at 1:00, he fell asleep almost instantly. Afterwards, we tried to have our usual afternoon snack, but he really didn’t like the mac ’n cheese I made for him. Pasta in general doesn’t seem to be his favorite, which is weird, because what kid doesn’t like pasta? I sure hope he grows out of it. But this particular pasta seemed especially unappealing to him. I don’t know whether it’s the Parmesan I included or what. I was able to get him to eat a little bit by smearing it with peanut butter, but I would’ve preferred it if he’d eaten more. Ah well.

Look out, neighbors - Arthur's on patrol!

Arthur’s good mood continued throughout the afternoon. He’s been standing without support more and more, and seems pretty excited to show off this new skill; when one of us approaches his baby gate, he’ll often pull up to stand using it, then proudly remove his hands and grin. It still only lasts maximum 5 seconds, but he’s definitely getting stronger and stronger! He also stands a lot only using one hand for support, something he wasn’t able to do in the past.

We spent some time in the afternoon playing upstairs, then going on a neighborhood patrol in Arthur’s little push bike. Then it was his usual walk with Papa! Arthur was pretty sweet for most of the evening, as well, despite having only had one, 45-minute, nap over the course of the day. He did, however, shriek a bit, which is kind of a recent development. I guess he did raptor cries a while back, but those kind of stopped after a while. The past month or so, though, he’s often shrieked for attention (at least, I think that’s why he does it), and it can be a bit much sometimes. He was also pretty bitey, and when I removed my nipples from his chompers of doom, started gnawing at my arm. I was pretty happy to send him to bed at 8:00, I have to say.

Tuesday

Of course the one morning that Miklós went in to the office, Arthur decided to wake up early: right at 7:00. I had set my alarm for 7 specifically to have at least 20 minutes before he arose, but perhaps it was my walking down the hallway that woke him. I waited a minute or two, hoping he’d go back to sleep, but while he stopped crying, he started babbling instead. When I went into the room he was standing upright, holding on to the side of the crib, with no indication of going back to sleep. And so our day started.

I had a nice heart attack early on in the morning, when I noticed Arthur chewing on something. I figured it was just a piece of fluff, but he was moving it around in his mouth more than he usually does, so I reached in to pull it out. Turns out it was a nail. Yikes. I don’t even want to think about him swallowing that. It was scary.

We had our usual morning shopping trip, followed by a solid breakfast. Arthur was slightly more into his mac ’n cheese this time, though I suspect he may just have been hungrier. You know what they say about hunger and seasoning! Luckily, the little guy crashed pretty quickly when I nursed him at 10:20.

The rest of the day was pretty typical, with Arthur having highs and lows. He’s pretty motivated to move on his feet, and at one moment was thrilled when I held him by the arms and walked with him. At another, he sat grinning on the little four-wheeled bike from Tante Kaila while I pushed him around, supporting his somewhat unsteady little torso.

The face of a different type of nail biter

I ended up nursing Arthur at 3:00, something I haven’t done in a while, because he seemed tired and I was really hoping he’d nap. He didn’t, but he was surprisingly hungry. After drinking quite a bit, he seemed very happy to just lie there with my nipple in his mouth, not really drinking but gently chewing contentedly. Afterwards, he was in quite a good mood for half an hour or so, and played by himself in his room while I lay on the bed reading. It was great!

Afterwards, though, Arthur grew progressively more restless and sleepy. We had an extra snack, during which he seemed surprisingly hungry. When I nursed him at 5:00, he fell asleep almost instantly; I was thrilled. Afterwards, he was a sweet little cutie again, so we had a fairly easy evening!

Wednesday

Arthur woke up twice on Wednesday - the first was around 2:00. Arthur went back to sleep pretty quickly, but his papa did not. The second time wasn't until 7:30, luckily. The little guy was in a fairly sweet mood throughout the morning, through our playtime upstairs and our grocery store trip. It was bath day, which I think facilitated his napping at 10:30, but he didn't nap for terribly long. Ah well, it was better than nothing!

The nap that turned my son into a monster

Arthur was a bit tired and out of sorts after his insubstantial nap, but after a massive afternoon lunch, he perked right up, and was super sweet for the rest of the afternoon. When Miklós took him for a walk at 4:00, Arthur fell asleep 15 minutes before they arrived back home, and continued dozing for a good 40 minutes in the stroller in the living room downstairs. So he got a good amount of sleep in!

After his nap, though, Arthur was super fussy. Sometimes he gets that way when he wakes up from a nap; it's like it throws him off or something. I can relate, although I don't voice my discombobulation with shrieks the way Arthur did. He was quite a bit of a handful for the rest of the evening, so I was pretty happy when his bedtime rolled around.

I tried cooking new dishes on Tuesday and Wednesday, and both turned out great, especially the carrot dish I made tonight! I'll post Tuesday's dinner today, though. I still had some chipotle paste leftover from the southwestern pasta salad I made a while back, so I figured I'd try my hand at making sofritas! Plus, a new study names tofu the best protein when looking at environmental impact and human health combined, so this was a great excuse to eat some! I mostly followed this recipe, with a few minor tweaks, and they turned out pretty good! I served them with rice and sautéed veggies, but I think beans would also be a nice accompaniment! Here's how I made them:

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Sofritas (serves 2 with sides)

Ingredients

• ~300g or so firm tofu, boiled in salted water or pressed to remove moisture

• 1 bell pepper (I used yellow)

• 1 tsp olive oil

• 1 red onion, diced

• ¼ cup adobo sauce

• ½ cup broth (I used ½ a beef bouillon cube + ½ cup water)

• 2 tbsp tomato paste

• ½ tsp salt

• 1 tsp cumin

• ½ tsp chili powder

• ½ tsp paprika

• 2 tsp red wine vinegar

• 3 cloves garlic

• accompaniments of choice (e.g. rice, beans, veggies, salsa, cheese, etc.)

Instructions

1. Broil bell pepper whole in the air fryer for about 10 minutes, flipping halfway. Let cool, then remove stem and seeds.

2. Press or boil tofu to remove moisture, then crumble into chunks the size of a blueberry or so.

3. Combine the roasted bell pepper, adobo sauce, broth, tomato paste, salt, cumin, chili powder, paprika, vinegar, and garlic cloves in a blender, and blend until creamy.

4. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet, then add in the onion and tofu. Stir as it cooks, until tofu is browned, abou 15 minutes.

5. Add the sofritas sauce and stir to combine. Turn heat down and simmer for 5 minutes or so, until thoroughly heated.

6. Serve warm with accompaniments of choice!