It's the Baby Monster!

At least, that's what Roo calls his little brother when he is covered in food after another food-exploring session in the kitchen. So far he has helped himself to banana, pear, strawberries, raspberries, red pepper, courgette, green beans, broccoli, tomatoes, egg, cheese, bread, potato and porridge as well as less healthy options such as chips (in a Dingle chippy), ice cream (mmm... Murphy's Baked Banana flavour, Dingle again) and chocolate cake (an exception for Mum's special birthday). Even our visitors, who were new to baby-led weaning (BLW), embraced this voyage of discovery. Not a puree in sight for this adventurous little epicurean.

Sneaky sneaky Mama!

Here it is- proof that Roo can eat veg... When it's cunningly disguised as cookie dough. Oatmeal raisin and courgette cookies to be exact, from the cookbook I mentioned in my last post.
Meanwhile I've been in the new republic of Miltonia, otherwise known as cleaning up the house for our lovely visitors, due in 3 days' time.

On a more prosaic note, Babba Roo ate some cauliflower today. Wow, so what, you might say, but that is really quite an event in this house! Then again, it was pureed and cunningly hidden in some fluffy, buttery mashed potato, (an idea I got from my latest library cookbook find Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld). She purees all sorts of veggies and hides them in things as diverse as chicken nuggets and brownies. I'm quite looking forward to making oatmeal cookies with pureed courgettes (or zucchinis, as our American friends like to call them). Off we go!
On the subject of food, his younger brother has started solids in the last week or two. Solids before 1 are supposed to be fun and he certainly takes to the task with much gusto. He looks so cute sitting in his booster seat, trying to fit his food-filled fist into his mouth. I'm going down the Baby Led Weaning route this time, partly because of the afore-mentioned aversion to vegetables and am eagerly awaiting a book on the subject.

Jesus, the Little Prince and the fox?

Today at Mass, Fr Noonan read an extract from one of my favourite books, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, at the start of his sermon. It was the bit where the Little Prince meets the fox, who explains to him about 'taming' him and the two becoming friends. At first, the Little Prince says he is too busy, but the fox convinces him that it is worth being patient and taking the time needed to tame him so they can be friends. The priest was making a parallel between the excerpt and today's Gospel, where Jesus encourages the Apostles to retreat to a quiet place and rest after they have been out preaching the Good News. Fr Noonan said that we try to cram so many activities into our lives and those of our children that we have no time to reflect on things. 'No time to stop and stare', I suppose.

The mad, co-incidental thing is, I photo-copied that Little Prince extract for one of my English lessons in the school next-door to the church, when I was doing my teaching practice there nearly two years ago.

Sweetness and Light

I've been listening to a wonderful programme on the radio. You canlisten to it here. It's all about one of my favourite subjects: Bees.
I didn't know til now that the phrase 'Sweetness and light' originates from the importance of bees in providing honey and beeswax to our ancestors. One of the guests was a lovely wise fella with a Kerry accent called McGiollaCoda, the same surname as the man who gave the introductory Bee course (aka one of the best birthday pressies ever) that Lee sent me on last year.

Hope springs eternal

Today I planted out some Basil that Mum gave me at the weekend. I haven't had a lot of luck with Basil in the past. But if the weather is fairly warm and I can keep the slugs at bay, it may have a chance. Some good reasons to be hopeful, eh?
Roo got a new delivery of sand, but was reluctant to stay outside without me around.

Big Buzz

We were woken today by the postman for the second morning running. Yesterday he had a birthday parcel from my dear Australian friend and today it was this little lavender plant, courtesy of the Jordan's cereal bars we eat a lot of. It had managed to come all the way to our house intact and then got dropped by the postman. He always seems to be in a right tear.
Anyway, I got a chance to plant it while the two lads were asleep. Luckily, because if I'd attempted it while Roo was with me I'd have got nowhere. It was very windy, although sunny and warm, and he wasn't on for staying outside at all. To put it mildly. He just about agreed to water it for me when he got up. So here's our busy little bee helping our newest addition settle into its role as an official 'Buzz Stop'.

All aboard!

Trains and space exploration are Babba's main interests at the moment. In common with most other little boys, I suppose. Today we visited a great playground while doing the weekly shop. Roo was so delighted when we finally got there ('course he spotted it at the beginning of the trip)- it was so sweet. He practically floated in, 'the playground, yay!'
Job satisfaction is simple enough to come by in this game.

C'est quoi?

I found the following while looking for a french translation of the Our Father. It's mad seeing it written down like this and realising that every language in the world has its own text-speak.

Le « Notre père » en SMS (Français)
Ntr pR kié ociE ke tn nm swasanktFié ke tn regn viN keta volonT swafêt sr la tR como ciL don-ns ojordwi ntr p1 2 c’jour pardon-ns no ofenç cm ns pardonon oçi à cE ki ns on ofenC &ne ns soumé pa à latentation mè Dlivr-ns dumal amN

The Spoonbugs have emerged

Their air-drying clay exoskeletons have hardened overnight so they have emerged from their spoon dens.
Unfortunately, seconds after this picture was taken, an over-zealous toddler naturalist knocked two of their legs off, so they've had emergency surgery and are recovering in spoonbug hospital.

Last chance corn

Roo planted these pots with sweetcorn today. It's a bit late in the growing season, but it seems like a waste of Lee's hard work in clearing the veggie patch not to put plants there. And could it possibly encourage Roo to eat vegetables?