Ava and Food

At her 9 month check up Ava's doc told us this: Whatever she will eat, feed her!

Now, before I go into detail I am sure someone has one of these- "??" - over their head looking confused and thinking "what about allergies?". This doctor has 5 children. All of whom were fed eggs and peanut butter and everything else in the world that is now bad for children under 1 year of age. The doc explained that most stage 2 baby food has egg in it (I read the label and it's there) and they also have had exposure to the dreaded nut somewhere along the line through something processed on or near the same equipment. Her advice was to start slow, give her a bite or two of whatever, wait a few days, and go from there.

To skip through our many trials and errors, none of which resulted in the need of an epi-pen, I will tell you what Ava ate for breakfast this morning: Scrambled eggs, chicken, biscuit, gravy, hash browns. Oh and Jef taught her how to use a straw, she she slurped up a sip of diet coke too. She was pissed when I wouldn't let her have coffee... you have to be at least 3 in this house before you get coffee, mom's rule.

Of course Ava still eats baby food. She had 2 big jars of applesauce with cereal last nite. After a 1/4 of a pork chop. And a few mushrooms. She had a few bites of salad the night before that, although tomatoes must be an acquired taste.

Ava has the appetite of a champion weight lifter. Pound for pound, that's probably an understatement. I have never, ever, ever seen a kid (let alone a 9 month old) eat as much and enjoy it as Ava does.

The differences in my children amaze me: Faith was content to sip a bottle and watch TV for hours. Ava has scaled the stairs and learned how to rock climb the fireplace after eating almost as much as Jef eats in a meal these days (they split a plate for dinner, no lie!). Faith would eat breakfast sometimes, a small lunch, and a normal dinner, maybe a snack. Ava has a big breakfast, a mid-morning snack, lunch, dinner, and bedtime snack. Plus she's still nursing a LOT. She must have a hollow leg.

Of course as much as she eats, Ava will also run me in circles burning all those calories! She's like a ball of fire, my little comet, hurdling at me (or away from me) at the speed of sound! It's amazing to watch. And that's usually all I have the energy to do.

--The Milk Maid says cha cha cha!