‘Food glorious food’

You wouldn’t think it by looking at me but I have a love of food. Because I am naturally slim I never worried about how often or what I ate. That may sound lucky but now that I am growing up ( I use that term loosely) I have begun to realise that although I won’t put on weight I may get unwell in the future from my eating habits. Luckily since I had my little boy two years ago I have lost a lot of my appetite! Maybe it’s because parents don’t have the time to eat or maybe because meal times are no longer calm and fun but for some reason I am just not as hungry anymore.

Despite loving any type of food particularly chips, chocolates, oysters and prawns I hate cooking, anything, ever! I know cooking, cooking segments and cooking shows have absolutely taken off but I’m sorry I have no interest at all. Sorry to all you master chef lovers out there but I don’t want to watch someone cooking in person or on TV. But I am more than happy to eat it lol.

My little man loves his food too, perhaps he will enjoy cooking in the future, fingers crossed. He starts off using his Thomas the Tank engine cutlery set but it’s not long before he decides its much faster and he can stuff more in by just using his hands. I watch him sometimes when he eats and he is so in the moment with it and enjoying every bit. Makes the bits he throws onto the floors and the walls worth it.

With food he is at what I call the easier stage. I don’t need to breast feed, I don’t need to purée everything, I don’t need to buy expensive kid food pouches or bottles, he can feed himself and will normally try anything. The best thing of all he can eat what we eat. No more making two dinners each night yay! He is a good boy he loves his veggies especially corn on the cob, he will have that every night.

When your child first starts eating at around 6 months it takes up a lot of time in your day. The preparation takes longer, you need to hold them and feed them, they take a long time to eat and will often just spit it out in disgust. Everything has to be puréed and bland as. Then you have to also be aware of what foods you can introduce at certain ages and hope and pray that they are not allergic to foods and be extra careful that they don’t choke. It’s a tough time particularly when you don’t enjoy being in the kitchen and they don’t even have teeth!

I remember stressing about him having too much or not enough, worrying about if he doesn’t have a full tummy will he keep waking up all night. Then everyone is telling you what to feed your baby, what to try and how often. Having fresh fruit all the time means going to the shops every second day and nappy changes are different altogether when they start food it’s quite a shock at first! The pressure felt like it was on so I went to the baby health clinic and the lovely lady working their told me that my son is very healthy and happy and that I should be proud of myself. At the time it felt like the unease and the responsibility was never going to end but it did and I did feel the weight lift off my shoulders. I tried to go with the flow and convince myself that each child is completely unique and so there is no hard and fast rules. If he is so happy and so loving I must have done something right.

A very good thing that comes out if all this is that I am eating better. The beautiful fresh fruit is there, it’s washed and its easy to eat or take with you on the go. As I wash and cut up fruit for my son I will also eat it and he loves that we eat together. He has actually helped me to rediscover fruit  and how yummy it can be. Well I guess the Wiggles have helped me with that too. ‘Fruit salad, yummy, yummy’. 

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