Real foods

So, my 5:30 am breakfast today is rather close to our bed time courtesy of the fact that Stephanie and I have way too much fun together, including talking in bed last night. We kept announcing that we were really going to sleep right that moment, and then I would crack up at something hilarious Stephanie said, and then, game over for the plans to go to sleep right then.

But, Jolyon is super-adorable and happy on his early-morning shifts, so I'm actually delighted to be up with him, even after a late bedtime.

Our sleep schedule involves Jolyon going to bed for a big sleep either a bit before we do, or anytime after Stephanie's bed time, in which case I stay up with him until he's tired. When Jolyon finally falls asleep, in his crib he goes, and then I usually go to bed as well. Then Stephanie takes the next awakening or two during which he eats, gets changed, and goes right back to sleep, a process which I don't even register because I am a sound sleeper. Then when Jolyon wakes up more fully, Stephanie wakes me up and I get up with him and have breakfast and check my email, and he's usually back to sleep an hour or two later. I love these early morning times together because he's a pretty happy cooing baby, and because I've just had an awesome solid chunk of sleep.

It's also great because I can hold Jolyon while eating breakfast without his spazzing out. If Stephanie attempts it, he usually gets agitated, I think because of the proximity of his food source, even after eating. The flipside to this is that when I'm home with him during the day when Stephanie is at work, he tends to be pretty sleepy all day long. He gets hungry, for sure, but I can tote him around all day long with only brief periods of waking up to eat, and then going back to sleep. He usually wakes up and has a long alert happy interactive period right when Stephanie comes home, which is nice.

Lately, my early morning breakfast with Jolyon has consisted of minibagels with peanut butter and honey, along with a glass of milk. (Aside: wow, are diets carefully constructed to keep on weight ever so much more fun than diets to lose weight.) It just registered today that these are spreads that Jolyon won't be eating for a long while. Well, honey I think we will be okay with introducing after a year once his digestive system is better developed, but I think we should probably hold off on peanuts for another few years after that, given the major food allergies in Stephanie's family. I think we'll generally hold off on solids until he really begins seeming interested in them, definitely after the 6 month mark and not 4 months, for this reason.

Our general philosophy is that children should eat whatever we're eating, possibly with a stick blender go-round before making its way to the littlest members of the household if it's too hard to chew. However, I do think we'll need to be careful that we're not including any allergen-prone foods, in spite of a generally lassaiz-faire food plan. I do wonder about other nut butters - perhaps we can get almond butter into the rotation sooner than 3 years?

Really, Jolyon may end up developing food allergies anyway - the odds are definitely stacked against him with the family history. However, we'd like to do whatever we can to minimize it.

I didn't post this when I first wrote it, instead going back to sleep when Jolyon fell asleep, and now, I'm revisiting it over my second breakfast (homemade seitan from last night and a pear and another half glass of milk, so the whole breakfast entity is well balanced considering its two installments). I am watching Jolyon from the table as he lies on the floor on a blanket kicking because he was there from when Stephanie was eating and pumping and I was showering.

I went to wash my pear and he was briefly out of sight, and Jolyon let out this huge squeal. I turned around and Priscilla had come into the kitchen. I guess it turns out that this mathematical relationship is beginning to become established by 2 months:

Though to be fair, we don't yet know that Jolyon's squeal is inane, just excited. :)