0

High heels

20140726-123239-45159710.jpg

Tuesday, 22 July 2014: One Year, One Hundred and Thirteen Days Old.

Ayla got around in my high heels for the first time this morning.

We’ve known Ayla has a shoe addiction for a while now, and while I’ve seen her get around wearing various adults thongs today was the first day she donned a set of heels and strut her stuff.

Ayla was surprisingly stable in the 4inch heels, certainly better than me after a long weekend wearing thongs.

And of course Ayla was super proud of herself, smiling and clapping and cracking it when it was time to go and I had to take the high heels off and put her boring old day care sneakers on.

0

Chow-down machine

20140403-202004.jpg

Thursday, 3 April 2014: One Year and Two Days Old.

Ayla must be having a growth spurt or something because she has been putting away food like a champion!

Today Ayla has eaten a bowl of porridge with yogurt, two strawberries, a fish cake, a wedge of beetroot, a sprig of asparagus and some corn off the cob, two grapes, a small slice of pear, two diced up cubes of satay pork, a tablespoon of rice and some chocolate baby custard.

What’s more, in addition to all the food she’s eaten Ayla has still managed to indulge in five breast feeds and a bottle of water!

I can’t help but wonder if Ayla’s recent transformation into a chow-down machine is related to her being unable to eat for the eight days she was sick.

I’m also wondering if Ayla’s apparently insatiable appetite is the reason behind her unsettled sleeps at night, which are slowly but surely starting to drive me crazy.

Maybe Ayla’s making up for lost calories, maybe she’s having a one year old growth spurt or maybe her body is just finally calling for more sustenance than milk can provide, but whatever it is Ayla’s one hungry little pork chop, pumpkin pie, sausage, err…. Kid!

0

TMI

20131221-074745.jpg

Friday, 20 December 2013: Two Hundred and Sixty Two Days Old.

Ok, so this might be TMI (to much information) buuuttttt…. Ayla did her first proper poo today!

It’s as if now she’s grown a tooth Ayla suddenly wants to eat real food and the result is, well, kinda gross.

Argh! It’s all happening so fast. Two days ago my baby got her first tooth, and today I can no longer claim she is “exclusively breast fed”.

Mind you, Ayla’s no where near eating proper meals, she just has a small sampler plate every now and then.

And it’s not like Ayla is actively seeking out or demanding meals but you can rest assured that if I’m eating something, Ayla wants it too.

I think food is still mainly an entertainment source though; it keeps her quiet while her brain makes sense of the taste, texture and fun-factor, but once Ayla’s learned all she can the slobbery scrap is unceremoniously chucked to the floor.

0

Spring Roll

20131208-121737.jpg

Saturday, 7 December 2013: Two Hundred and Fifty Days Old.

Ayla ate an entire spring roll today… by accident!

We were at our boot camp Christmas party and of course there was plenty of nibblies to go around.

Ayla had been sitting on the floor playing with some corn chips but she’d finally made a sufficient mess and was ready to move on to new adventures.

I picked her up and was holding her with one arm as I went and grabbed a couple of mini spring rolls for myself.

As I was eating one, Ayla grab hold of the other and shoved it straight in her mouth before I could realise!

Ayla seemed to be enjoying it and I figured she would probably only suck on it for a bit before throwing it away, and when a friend came to take Aya off for a cuddle the spring roll went with her.

About 20 minutes later Ayla reappeared in my friends arms, but all that was left of the spring roll was one tiny piece of cabbage hanging from the corner of her mouth. Oh, and some crust wedged in between her fingers.

Ayla had devoured it. And I’m blaming the fact that she’s one sixteenth Chinese.

0

An educated palette

20131115-095253.jpg

Thursday 14 November 2013: Two Hundred and Twenty Seven Days Old.

I think Ayla has been born with an educated palette… she’s been eating (and enjoying) a bunch of different foods that even adults don’t like!

Over the last couple of days Ayla’s devoured mango, brussels sprout and even some spanish mackerel, and today we went out for a Yum Cha lunch where I let her try a little piece of everything we ordered.

From the sticky outer covering of a prawn dumpling to the chewiness of a steamed pork bun, from a creamy, crumbly egg custard tart to the soft coconut jelly cake Ayla ate and loved it all!

It was pretty amazing really, to see little Baby Ayla sitting at the table in a Chinese restaurant happily joining in the conversation and sharing our meal just like a grown up.

0

Dinner

Ayla and asparagus

Friday, 11 October 2013: One Hundred and Ninety Four Days Old.

Ayla’s started joining Hubby and I for dinner.

Dinner time falls right in the middle “witching hour” so Ayla’s usually clingy and squirmy and loud, making eating tea as a couple virtually impossible.

So this week we tried putting Ayla in her high chair at dinner time so she could eat with us and its been one of the best decision yet!

Although Ayla really just makes a massive mess of whatever veggies are on offer, I love watching her learn about food.

So far this week Ayla’s tried (and enjoyed!) pumpkin, sweet potato, tomato, broccoli, asparagus and avocado!

When Ayla’s not playing with her food, she’s happily telling us about her day.

Nine times out of ten Ayla stares straight at her Daddy, chatting away with expression and intent like any other kid, except that she doesn’t have words yet!

Yep, dinner time is quickly becoming my favourite time of the day. With my Hubby on one side and Baby Ayla on the other, there’s no place is rather be 🙂

Dinner aftermath

0

German pretzel

20131005-220642.jpg

Saturday, 5 October 2013; One Hundred and Eighty Five Days Old.

We discovered a new, great teething device for Baby Ayla tonight…. A German pretzel.

We were at an Oktoberfest event with a couple of friends and as part of the deal we got to try a range of German foods and beers.

Now that Baby Ayla loves all things digestible she was understandably keen to try the strange new flavours we had on our plates.

But the only food item we decided was “baby safe” enough to let her try was the pretzel, which was really just bread shaped like a pretzel.

Well, Ayla chewed on that pretzel for nearly an hour!

By the end of it, Ayla had bits of German bread pretzel all over her face, clothes and pram but it was worth it to see her little face suck and chew on that pretzel like her life depended on it.

For the past week I’ve been offering Ayla rusk sticks to help with her teething but she’s not been interested at all… One lick and the rusk hits the floor.

But pretzels on the other hand? I think we have a winner. Yah?

PS- here’s a pic of Ayla’s outfit today (we’re doing a weekly photo challenge)… It’s one of my favourites and too cute not to share!

20131006-104530.jpg

2

Up a notch

20130929-190655.jpg

Saturday, 28 September 2013: One Hundred and Eighty Days Old.

Baby Ayla has certainly taken her interest in food up a notch lately!

Whenever I’m eating or drinking Ayla’s reaching over, trying to grab it with eyes wife and mouth open.

So whenever she’s started to show interest I’ve tried to give her something to chew on; banana, strawberries, cucumber, carrot, even a bit of yogurt!

To try and create a bit of routine with food, I’ve been giving Ayla baby porridge at breakfast and lunch!

I let her grab the spoon and try to feed herself – it makes a massive mess but its super fun!