The only food that Baby loves and will never reject besides mummy’s milkie is soup. Thus, there is soup for Baby every single day. On some days when I don’t feel like boiling a big pot of soup for everyone, I’ll double boil chicken or lean pork soup for her.
This is the lean pork soup in a small pot, double boiled with red dates and goji berries or wolfberries or keiji. The small pot is placed in another big pot filled with water and boiled for 2 hours. Baby loves eating goji berries.
And this is Baby’s bowl of lunch consisting of vermicelli, a little pork, lots of goji berries cut into small pieces with the soup. At night, she gets to eat the veggie and fish that we eat. So she gets a well-balanced meal – carbs from the vermicelli, protein from the fish and pork and fibre from the veggie.
For the past one week, Baby has very little appetite for her food. She hates porridge and food that she normally eats. I was lost for ideas on what to cook for her. I tried something different – French toast but she spat them out (would only eat if I put some soup together with the spoonful of French toast), cooked pancakes but she too spat them out. Not much interest in noodles with soup. She loves spaghetti and pasta but she can’t eat that everyday, else she would also get sick of them. Frustrated, I just gave her carrots from the pot of soup I had cooked… and voila, she loved carrots. So her lunch was just carrots with beet root-carrot-sweet corn-pork ribs soup a few days ago. And this was her dinner:
Left : Beet root-carrot-sweet corn-pork ribs soup
Right : Carrots from the soup, fried small fish (jar yue jai), stir-fried spinach. Quite a well-balanced dinner with carbs from the carrots, protein from the fish, fibre and iron from the spinach and of course a bowl of nutritious soup.
The buckwheat-eggs pancake in the bowl on the left was almost untouched. She was only gobbling down the carrots like a rabbit!
When I first gave Baby a wedge of lemon to lick on several months ago, I was amazed that she did not push the sour lemon away or quiver her little body in response to the terribly sour lemon. Instead, she reached out her hands towards the wedge of lemon that I was holding and kept asking for more! The way she licks and sucks a wedge of lemon is just like how any toddler would lick a lollipop! Tell me, how many toddlers would love sucking lemon juice from a wedge of lemon?
Lip-smacking lemon juice, direct from the wedge of lemon! Like mummy like daughter… coz mummy is absolutely in love with lemons!
This morning, my maid made me steaming mad again. Baby had woken up early today. Just as I was about to leave the house to jog, she woke up. This time, I didn’t want to bring her along to jog as I wanted to buy some chicken meat at a nearby stall, so I left her in the playpen in the living room to watch TV with her 2 sisters. Baby would be happy if she sees her 2 sisters around her.
When I came back from my jog, I saw Baby licking on something white. I went closer and had a shock of my life. She had a pencil in her mouth… with the pencil lead part inside her mouth. I was absolutely horrified and quickly snatched the pencil from her. I was even more horror-struck when I noticed that the pencil lead was missing!! Baby had eaten the pencil lead. The word LEAD and cancer, mental retardation, poisoning, kidney and liver failure and all disorders kept flooding my head that was boiling and about to erupt steam and lava on my maid. As usual, my maid kept giving me a pack of lies – that the pencil had no lead, that she had just given Baby the pencil, etc. etc…. lies that made me even more furious. I checked the piece of paper that my maid had given Baby and my suspicion was confirmed – there were pencil scribbles on the paper but my maid further denied that the pencil had NO lead… and she further agitated us by saying “saya cuma bagi their main-main saja, bukan makan” (I only let her play with the pencil, not to eat). What a ridiculous answer!
I quickly opened Baby’s mouth and checked her tongue and teeth. My suspicion was further confirmed. Baby’s teeth had black pencil marks on them but that id*ot kept defending herself….aargh. Hubby and I really wanted to slap that lady. I quickly wiped Baby’s mouth, tongue and teeth. I quickly checked her playpen and was hoping to find the pencil lead there but no, the pencil lead was no where to be found. I think it’s inside Baby’s stomach! I quickly SMSed Baby’s surgeon and asked for advice. I also quickly did a Google search on ‘toddler ate pencil lead what to do’. And this is what I found, which was quite comforting:
During the first two or three years of life, your child is bound to go through a phase of putting things other than food into his mouth. He’ll chew on his toys, taste the sand in the playground, and sample the cat’s food if given the opportunity. As annoying as this can be for you, few of these things will cause him any serious harm, as long as you keep poisons and sharp objects out of his reach. Lead is one dangerous substance; however, that your child can consume without your knowledge.
Contrary to popular belief, lead poisoning is not caused by chewing on a pencil or being stabbed with its point. The so-called “lead” in a pencil actually is harmless graphite, and there is no lead in the paint coating the outside. Lead poisoning is most often caused by eating lead contained in bits of old paint or in dirt that has been contaminated by lead, by breathing lead in the air, or by drinking water from pipes lined or soldered with lead.
My surgeon replied my SMS and gave me a similar answer. I was much more relieved but still not totally at ease. I really don’t like the fact that my baby ate some kind of chemical. Graphite is carbon and having my baby who had recently gone through 2 surgeries ingesting carbon really ain’t a pleasant thing.
I was at fault too today. I should not have left Baby with my maid, though the hubs was asleep in the bedroom. Knowing how careless, stubborn and ignorant she is, I should not have relied on her. Stupid me. I ought to have my head banged on the wall! I have been telling her every day on end to never ever give Baby a pen or a pencil to play with, without any adult supervision. I have also been drumming into her head as well as Aly and Sher’s that pencil lead is toxic and poisonous but my maid is just one stubborn lady. Today’s incident had taught me a lesson. Never ever leave Baby with my maid alone again.
Cherry tomato is another veggie that Baby loves. There is always a packet of organic cherry tomatoes in our fridge. It’s a very healthy snack and my 3 gals and I love popping them into our mouths whenever we feel hungry in between meals. My gals and I love anything that is cooked with tomatoes. Just last week, we have had many dishes cooked with tomatoes – pasta with tomatoes, onions and minced beef, fried chicken with tomatoes, Baby’s porridge with tomatoes, tomato omelette and beet root soup with tomatoes, sweet corn and carrots. I plan to steam fish with tomatoes for Baby today!
Giving her some veggie / snacks to feed herself during meal times is one sure way of getting Baby to sit still on her highchair.
One is definitely not enough mummy, I want more, nice!
Be very careful when you feed your toddler with cherry tomatoes. They are small and slippery and are a high risk choking food. Cut them into halves and let them eat under your watchful eyes. Some kids are also allergic to tomatoes. So watch out for any signs of allergy.
My mil bought some organic baby capsicums last week. It was the first time I’d seen such tiny and cute capsicums and I could not resist biting on one of the baby capsicums… in its raw form. I remembered Chris (one of the commentators of my blogs) telling me that her son would eat raw capsicum as he would eating an apple. I did that too and I must say that the baby capsicum tasted really sweet and crunchy. Very healthy snack indeed, in replacement of junk food. My mil had wanted to stir-fry the capsicums but most of them had now been chomped down by moi and Baby!
Baby enjoying her raw yellow capsicum during dinner. Good way of keeping her still on her highchair!
But my health freak baby didn’t quite like pomelos. After a few bites, she spat them out and played with them instead. I guess she does not like the slight tart taste of the pomelo, which is similar to that of grapefruit.
But Alycia could not stop devouring on the pomelos, especially when chilled.
I am really convinced that Baby is indeed a health freak. We were at the hotel having buffet style breakfast for 2 days and Baby had not the slightest interest in cakes, buns or other tasty junkie but when I gave her a slice of RAW red capsicum from the salad section of the buffet counter, oh my, she grabbed it from me instantly and nibbled on it as if she knew that she’s munching on good stuff!
The other item that she was interested in was rice bubbles and she survived on breastmilk, Pediasure, rice bubbles, a little scrambled eggs, a little fish and plain porridge during our 3-day 2-night stay in Penang.
I bought a huge bunch of watercress veggie the other day to make watercress soup and for my mil to make dumplings (kau cee). Since there was also an apple that has been sitting in the fridge for quite some time, I toss in the apple as well as the watercress into the crockpot of porridge meant for Baby. When it comes to food, I really love to experiment. And here’s the watercress-apple-pork-fish porridge for Baby :
Verdict : It tasted really good – sweet and fragrant but Baby didn’t quite like it coz she has gotten really bored of porridge. I found out today what she liked and I’m glad I experimented that food on her. Now, I shall feed her with that everyday until she gets bored of it hahaha…..
I am a WFHM with 3 beautiful girls - Alycia, Sherilyn and Cassandra. I quit the job that I love to stay home with my 3 angels as that's what I've always wanted to do. I am a health freak, fitness freak and a clean freak too. I love to eat and live the clean and healthy way; I want my kids and hubby to do the same too.
I always believe that your health is your wealth and if you have good health, that's the best gift you can ever ask for from God.
I have been writing product reviews, food reviews / restaurant reviews and product advertorials since 2007. Please email Shireen at shireenyong@gmail.com to inquire if you are interested to place an advertorial or review in this blog.
