Champuru 365

Baby Champuru enjoys some time with Jiji (grandpa), playing with a new favorite: bubbles!

Shot with Canon 5D, 50mm lens.

Baby Champuru has finally relinquished the bottle and embraced the cup, but it was not without its challenges. Read the whole story here.

Fell of the wagon for a bit with my Project 365, but I’m jumping back on in February!  How are you doing with your Project 365 endeavors?

Up until Baby Champuru’s first birthday, I had been so cautious about what I fed her.  Ever mindful of possible allergic foods, choking hazards, and just plain junk food, I tried my best to fill her tummy with healthy foods.  I’ll be the first to admit that I may be a little extreme, but even at her first birthday party, I was reluctant to allow her to have a bite of her own birthday cake.  Needless to say, I caved in and allowed her a taste of chocolate cake — but was relieved that her palate was not accustomed to the sweet stuff and she didn’t want more than a few bites.

At her 12 month well baby check-up, the doctor advised me that she could now eat basically anything (except anything with tree nuts, including peanut butter and nutella). Forget the pureéd stuff, the girl was ready for table food.  I’m still very cautious about what she eats and prefer to feed her fresh fruits, vegetables (we’re working on it), whole grains, and dairy products.  I limit her intake of sugary foods and will usually only allow her a taste of a dessert or snack that I may be eating.  (She is quite relentless in her requests to try my food.)

This morning, I went to the Cookie Corner and bought an oatmeal raisin cookie for Baby Champuru and a small cup of  bite-sized chocolate chip cookies for myself. She nibbled on the edge of the oatmeal raisin cookie but seemed disinterested. However, the red cup of bite-sized cookies in my hand caught her eye and the way I was voraciously devouring them certainly piqued her curiosity. I wasn’t intending to share my cookies because of the chocolate, but Hubby urged me to allow Baby Champuru to taste one.  (Oatmeal raisin just seems a little healthier to me and thus, makes me feel less guilty when allowing her to have some.) Grudgingly, I offered her a cookie.  She took it.  She bit into it. And here’s her reaction:

Baby Champuru’s first taste of chocolate in a chocolate chip cookie.  She was thrilled. Understandably.  As a Twitter friend remarked, “it’s worse than crack!” Ain’t that the truth?  I know I’m hooked!

The funny thing is that she didn’t finish the entire bite-sized cookie.  She excitedly ate about half of it, then offered the rest of it to Daddy who didn’t accept it fast enough and the half-eaten piece ended up on the floor.  I’m not sure if that was a fluke or not, but I’m not going to encourage a chocolate addiction in my one year old.  One addict in the family is enough. There’s only so much chocolate to go around and I don’t want to compete with Baby Champuru for my chocolate stash.

This is what Baby Champuru’s breakfast looks like on most days.  She loves fruit and her current favorites are strawberries and clementine oranges (cuties).  She doesn’t eat blueberries with as much gusto, but seems to tolerate them if she’s in the mood.  She will also eat a fair amount of bananas but I tend to restrict that somewhat since it has a tendency to be constipating.

I am hoping to broaden her horizons with vegetables as well — but she doesn’t seem to be as receptive to vegetables as she is with fruit.  We must work on that.  But in the meantime, I’m just thankful that she enjoys fruit!

Baby Champuru (15 mo) loves playing with building blocks.  We bought a set of these large Mega Bloks from Toys R Us on her first birthday.  Initially, she just enjoyed dumping the blocks out of the bag, then discovered the joy of putting them back in the bag, and now she is using the blocks to build creative little structures.  Today she made great strides in her building skills when she constructed the tower you see in the photo above.  Daddy helped a bit with the foundation, but she did everything above the purple blocks.

I love watching her build things. She is unfettered by convention and limitations. It is amazing to see the creative mind of a one year old at work.

She was so proud of her creation. I told her that I wanted to take a picture of her building, so she held it up and smiled big and proud.  That little girl makes my heart swell with pride each and every day!

Made by little hands wielding big crayons!

On Sesame Street today they were talking about drawing.  After the episode was over, I turned off the television and Baby Champuru immediately led me to her crayons.  She wanted to draw, just like she saw on TV!  Here is today’s masterpiece!

Baby Champuru suctions Hello Kitty’s nose with a nasal aspirator

Since Baby Champuru has been sick with a cold, I have been suctioning her runny nose to give her some relief, but it’s always a traumatic episode when the nasal aspirator appears.  This afternoon, Baby Champuru kept pointing to the shelf, saying “ball… ball…” and I didn’t realize what she was referring to until it dawned on me that she was asking for the nasal aspirator.  I brought it down from the shelf, handed it to her, and she smiled with glee as she immediately grabbed Hello Kitty and started the serious task of suctioning her little yellow nose with it.  Too bad Hello Kitty didn’t scream bloody murder while writhing around like a crazed animal while she was doing it. Then perhaps she’d get a small taste of what mommy goes through.

As I type this, Baby Champuru is sleeping peacefully, experiencing a temporary reprieve from her symptoms as she naps.  After dodging the bullet and escaping from Mommy’s Evil Stomach Virus, she came down with a cold that has left her with congestion, a runny nose, and a nasty disposition.  Not that I blame her in the least.  I’d be on a warpath, too, if Mommy kept chasing me around the house with wet washcloths and a nasal aspirator all day.

Baby Champuru loves fruit. Recently, she discovered Cuties: those adorable little seedless Clementine oranges.  We buy them at Costco in bulk and they are gone in a week.  She will devour two or three oranges in a sitting, which is great since she is fighting off a cold and needs all the vitamin C she can get.  What kind of fruit do you and your babies like to eat?