17 and a half months.

Aaahhhh...words cannot explain how frustrating these last two weeks have been.

He's gone from eating anything and everything in sight (except tomatoes and cheese), to now eating only...cheese.

Spoon feeding is now out the window.  He likes to finger feed himself now, which basically means picking bits of food and smearing/flinging it from his high chair.

On tonight's menu was shop bought ravioli (I was getting desperate) in tomato sauce and plain yoghurt.  He ate the yoghurt so I guess I shouldn't complain.  He barely touched his afternoon snack of grapes either.

Running out of ideas FAST.  I'm hoping this is just a phase.  Oh Lordy yes.

He started child care today.  I tried not to get too emotional when we dropped him off.  But now I'm home looking at all his toys and wondering what to do with myself all day (well, apart from the housework).

Add to that he didn't want a breastfeed this morning.

I guess he's growing up.

I've been meaning to try this recipe I bookmarked a while back

After a few hot days here, temperatures have come down somewhat, so I figured it was the perfect time to try.

Wontons
Adapted from Chubby Hubby who adapted it from the fabulous Fucshia Dunlop

80 wonton wrappers
60g piece of fresh ginger, unpeeled
450g minced pork
2 tablespoons finely diced carrot
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 tablespoons finely sliced spring onions
1 egg, beaten
3 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
2 teaspoons sesame oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
100g cold chicken stock

Crush the ginger with the flat of a wide knife or heavy object and soak for 5 minutes in a 100ml of cold water.

In a mixing bowl, combine the minced pork, carrot, ginger, spring onions, egg, wine, ginger-water (discard the ginger pieces), sesame oil, salt and pepper and mix well.

Place about half a teaspoon of meat mixture into centre of wonton wrapper.  Dip your finger in some water and run along two edges of the wrapper and fold in half.  Press down firmly, making sure you get all the air out of the pocket.  You can use flour to prevent the wrappers from getting too sticky, and it helps to "dry" them out a little if you are freezing them.

To cook, place in boiling chicken stock and cook until wontons float to surface.

To serve, ladle into bowls with a few drops of sesame oil.

I added some roughly chopped bok choy to the stock as the wontons were cooking and it turned out to be a lovely light, but filling dinner. I might mix some diced prawns into the mixture the next time I make them, just to give it a bit more texture.

It turned out to be a fairly big batch so I've frozen the rest and will have them again soon.  Yum!

His birthday present.  It doesn't look like much, but it's a lovely wooden walker which came with a zillion wooden blocks.  His latest thing is pushing it around and putting random bits and pieces on the little tray.

We've taken it out for a few test runs down the street which he loves.   I'm just waiting for the day when he brings back bits of dead insects and other fun stuff.

Excuse the dodgy pic, it's been a while.

I've been going through a bit of a fritter thing with James at the moment, only because I've never made them before and they make a nice change from the usual meat and 3 veg lumpy stuff I've been making him of late.  Plus he can feed himself with them...woohoo!!  I gave him five of these the other day for lunch and he wolfed them down.

They're super easy to make, but for the life of me I don't know what to do to make them less soggy/greasy.  I only use a teaspoon of oil in a non-stick frypan but the moment I put the batter on, they seem to suck up the oil like a sponge.

I made too much batter today so there's about 40 of the little greasy suckers carefully stacked in between sheets of paper towels in the fridge.  I'm tempted to freeze some to save for a rainy day, but not sure if they freeze well.  I've got one volunteer in the freezer now, see how it defrosts in the morning.

Fritter/pikelet toddler snacks

Ingredients:
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup whole milk
1 grated carrot
1 grated zucchini
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup corn
1 cup meat of your choice (I've tried drained tinned tuna and chicken which both work well)

Method:
* Add milk and flour to the beaten egg and mix well until most of the lumpy bits are removed.
* Add vegetables and meat (add any meat or vege you want, I just used what was on hand) to the batter and mix well.  Add milk and/or cheese to adjust consistency of batter, should be somewhat thick so it will hold when you fry.
* Dollop a teaspoon of batter mix onto a frypan over medium heat (teaspoon seems to make just the right size fritter for him to hold).
* Cook on one side for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown, flip and cook the other side until golden brown.
* Serve warm or at room temperature.

Mummy's first attempt at fritter thingys. I'm impressed!

I don't know what to say.

They're like a cooking version of Kath and Kim, and almost as bad as Semi-Home Made with Sandra Lee.

4 ingredients only, most of which is made with processed gunk.

Blah!

We've tried veges, fruit and some yoghurt and cheese the other day. This week its going to be fish, and next week - meat. Once you start on meat there's no going back. I guess I should wave bye-bye to the breastfed poos of the past.

I'm sure there are some of you out there who know what I'm talking about.

I do have to say though that I'm struggling with ideas on what to feed him. Sure I have the frozen cubes of pureed fruit and veg carefully stashed away in the freezer to mix and match as I wish.

But to be honest, I feel like I'm not doing enough, or varying his diet enough. I call it food bias. There are some foods I just can't stand, like pumpkin, of all things. But yep, I just don't like it. I did give in and made some mashed pumpkin the other day, so I suppose I shouldn't feel too guilty. But still.

Husband's alarm going off at 5am, 5.15am. Him rolling over and finally deciding to get up, go down the stairs, turn on the light, turn on the tele, make a coffee, get and eat his cereal by clanging his spoon against the bowl constantly. Problem.

Junior stirring a bit during all of this and settling back to sleep himself. Good boy.

I hate football season.

Its going to be a long day.