With a quick search on YouTube and Netflix, we often find a film or documentary to complement our lesson for the day. Today, even though it's Saturday, I suggested we watch Squanto: A Warrior's Tale. Trevor was enjoying the film until Dave walked in and said, "Why are you doing school on a Saturday?"

Hey Dad -- it was just a movie until you called it "school"!

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I whipped up a quick double batch of colonial brown bread this morning. It rises while baking, so there's no kneading or waiting. This is a great weekday morning recipe which yields two dense, nutty, and slightly sweet loaves that are wonderful fresh out of the oven with a generous slathering of butter. It also makes great sandwiches later in the day!

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Dave built a baby gate onto the deck this weekend that matched the existing railings. It looks great and makes the deck into the world's largest playpen.






- Posted from my iPhone

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Mr. Mothra is sitting outside of our front door, looking all bad with his six-inch wingspan. I've seen these before, but they're usually in more muted colors.



- Posted from my iPhone

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One of the pieces of art on display at the Fisk Farm art show was Trevor's Tim Burton collage.





- Posted from my iPhone

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I made baby food today because we keep running out of fruit jars. Gavin eats fruit with cereal for breakfast, then again after finishing his veggies and meat during other meals. It seems so silly to buy a jar of mashed bananas for .69 cents when I can get three pounds of fresh bananas for .39 cents at Costco.

The jars, even the stage three foods, are a little runny for a tiny guy who is having a lot of fun copying everyone's chewing motions. He's now able to feed himself little bits of cereal like Cheerios or Chex, so a glob of textureless peach puree isn't that challenging for him.

So I googled around and found a few interesting recipes for baby food. The first was a squash and apple bake with cinnamon. It smelled amazing while cooking, but needed double the listed time for the squash to get soft. I also added a splash of organic carrot juice to keep the whole thing from being too pasty.

It was ready just in time for Gavin's lunch, and though I thought it tasted great, I wondered what he would think of this chunky mash. After three bowls, it was clear that he gave it a thumbs-up. He ate so much that when dinnertime rolled around, he only ate about half a bowl -- he was still full from lunch. (Crossing fingers that a full belly means fewer wake-ups during the night.)


Even after so much eating (I'll admit, I had a forkful or two), there's a full mason jar of food left for the rest of the week and it's a pretty orange color that makes you imagine there are tons of vitamins in there.

Emboldened by my first success, I made a second batch of food right after. This time, it was Honest Fare's Baked Cinnamon Apple and Prune baby food. After three steaming apples filled with prunes and dotted with cinnamon came out of the oven, there was no chance they were even making it into the jars. Trevor and I ate all three. (I consider it a personal triumph that I ate a baked apple without a lick of butter on it.)

Rest assured, I will make Gavin another batch tomorrow. With an apple orchard just a few houses away, we're never wanting for fresh apples. I'm thinking we'll try something with broccoli to add some green to that orange. Mmmmm.

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Usually, when I feed Gavin his cereal and veggies, he grabs the spoon once or twice during the meal and tries to feed himself.

Last night, he wanted to do the whole meal on his own. Every time I held the spoon toward him, he reached for it instead of just opening his mouth. Who am I to say no to a little guy who just wants to learn a new skill? We've been incorporating some Montessori principles in his early learning, and feeding himself fits right in with that philosophy:

'By setting up a home environment that enables children to take care of their own self-care throughout the day, the home environment can help the child develop independence and a strong sense of self. We can support our children to be able to say: "I can do it!" and "I did it myself!"' --Montessori.org

It was the messiest meal we've ever had. There were peas down his shirt and up his sleeves, and a good quarter of the food spilled down his bib. But he was super-pleased with himself. Every time I told him, "Good job!" after a bite, he'd grin and jump around in his chair. It was so worth the 30 minutes of kitchen cleaning and the 15 minute bath afterwards.

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