Friday, April 3, 2009

The toothless gourmet

Having a one-year-old who is still toothless, yet loves food, I have to be creative. Thank goodness for food processors. Last night Zoodle got to share our meal of potato, chili, cheese, and salad.

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Depending on the combination of foods, Zoodle's pureed meals fall at different places on the looks-like-dog-food spectrum. Last night's was definitely one of the more appetizing-looking ones. (Really, it was.)

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And does he like it? You be the judge.

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At some point, though, that round little tummy gets full to the brim. Then Zoodle finds alternate uses for the food--tonight he ventured into the field of face painting.

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When Zoodle finally has enough teeth to chew more foods, I'll enjoy not having to do so much food processing. But I sure will miss that gummy smile.

13 comments:

Kara said...

Love the pix! It's amazing what a HUGE mess kids can make out of their food :-)

Crazy Mo said...

Oh, but I still want to give him a great big kiss ... dog food and all! Enjoy it now while you can. Eventually he'll get to the phase where his food can't touch each other and there's absolutely NO comingling of food items on his plate.

Call Me Cate said...

Wow... He's quite the artist!

Isabella said...

I LOVE that last picture!

The only way Peanut eats our food is if we give her pieces she can chew on - it's more about having what's on our plate, not that she wants to eat. :)

Dani said...

How cute!

Unknown said...

You may miss that gummy smile, but remember it gets replaced by an equally cute toothy grin! :) As a side note, don't you LOVE the IKEA kids flatware?

Deirdre said...

tristan has 14 teeth...he can share a few with zoodle! those pics are great! what a photogenic little guy

H.K. said...

If only my son could look that happy when he eats his salad!

Our Scoop said...

That's a great way to do it! I never thought about having a one-year old who wants to eat "normal" foods and having no teeth. Was Chickie a little later in getting teeth too? Good for you for not doing just baby food! That would be easier but not as tasty for Zoodle!

Deanna said...

Sammy just sprouted his teeth too! I agree that the gummy smile is just so perfectly baby, I was almost sad to see it go :)

I puree Sammy's foods but salad had not occurred to me - good idea!

Sandra said...

A.DOR.able! He may have lots of other lessons to learn in life, but smiling? He's got it down pat!

Why didn't we ever think to just do food for babies like this when I was raising children? I'm sure it's much less expensive than the jars of baby food we used.

Very clever. (Although I would have missed the blueberry buckle that I think I ate as much of as the kids did! :)

C. Beth said...

Kara--It truly is amazing. I really want to have someone come in and give the tile a slight grade, towards a drain right in the middle. Then they can install a hose, and we'll just hose it down after every meal.

Crazy Mo--Ha! I was wondering if he'd find it odd to have all his foods separate once he gets those teeth!

Call Me Cate--Yeah, artist. That's it. A very messy artist. :)

Isabella--Interesting about Peanut. Chickie at this age was still on probably 90-95% breastmilk. It's been so surprising to me, just how much Zoodle LOOOOVES "real food."

Dani--Thank you!

ElleBee--Oh, the IKEA flatware is fantastic!! The forks are actually sharp enough to use as forks!

Dierdre--Isn't it amazing the WIDE variation in teething?!

H.K.--Ha! We'll see if he still likes it when he's an opinionated toddler!

Our Scoop--Yes, Chickie was late, but not THIS late. Her first tooth popped through a day before 11 months! We still do some baby food, but I just can't do the NASTY-looking/smelling baby food meat. Eeeeeew.

Deanna--Hooray for Sammy's teeth!!

Sandra--I'm glad you enjoy the smiles! I'm just waiting for someone to leave a comment saying, "You know, Beth, I used to like your blog, but there are just WAY too many Zoodle smile photos. It's getting very dull." :)

Beki - TheRustedChain said...

Ohmygoodness, what a doll!!

I always made my kids' baby food too. Isn't it easy?!