Oh, I love him. I love him to pieces.
“The moon turns its clockwork dream.
The biggest stars look at me with your eyes.
And as I love you, the pines in the wind
want to sing your name with their leaves of wire.”
-Pablo Neruda
[Click photo to view a larger version.]
So, if you saw my Facebook or Twitter over the weekend, then you’ve already gotten your fill (no pun intended) of Aveline’s foray into food. I just might have gone a wee bit overboard with the photos, the status updates, and the steady stream of emails to our respective families in California and the Midwest.
But I couldn’t help myself! I was excited.
Now I know some books say to delay solids as long as possible to prevent food allergies. But there are other studies which argue that earlier introduction of solids might actually minimize the chance of food allergies. And the British Medical Journal recently challenged the recommendation to breastfeed exclusively for six months. Their analysis on the topic has become a heated source of debate among those who make their living creating these guidelines.
In light of my own food allergies, I’ve been reading and fretting over these studies, trying to make a decision whether or not to let Aveline have food. All this reading suddenly seemed pretty silly when my mom simply said, “I think you’re over-thinking this. Just do what makes sense.”
Aveline’s been so hungry lately — grabbing for the food on our plates, nursing hourly during the day and every 3.5 hours at night. And so this weekend, we decided it was time. Josiah got a nice ripe avocado at the farmers’ market (we chose avocado instead of rice because of the high fat content) and Aveline had her first taste of food.
And you know what? She LOVED it.
When I was a little girl, I saved colorful labels and stuck them into the front and back covers of my bible. This is a label from Jupi, a beverage from the former Yugoslavia. (On a related note, my brother and I used to say Jupi! rather than yippee! when we were excited. We only got to drink Jupi on very special occasions, such as our birthdays.)
I call today’s photo “Californian in Florida”…just like me! He he! ;-) But seriously, how hilarious is it that many of the stores here stock oranges from California?
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I missed yesterday’s photo (high angle shot). I lovingly blame a growth-spurting Aveline, who went on a sleep strike and ate hourly for fifteen hours. So you can imagine I’m quite glad to see tonight’s photo, a setting sun. It means bedtime is right around the corner. For how napless my bebe is, she lays her little head down obediently every single night and falls right asleep.
And every single night, I marvel at how incredibly blessed I am and how rich our life is. Like right now, for instance. Aveline is sitting on my lap, holding on to a wash cloth in one hand and beating on the desk with her other hand. She says, “Ahhh. Hahhh. Ahhh. Gahh. Eeeehaa.” while looking over at Josiah, who is sitting next to me clicking away at his computer. I think she’s singing along with Cary Brothers, who is softly crooning, “There is something about you baby so right / I wouldn’t be here without you baby tonight / If ever our love was concealed / No one can say that we didn’t feel a million things / And a perfect dream of life.”
Josiah gets up, walks into the kitchen and switches the light on. I hear the clink of dishes as he unloads the dishwasher. Aveline drops the washcloth to the floor and sticks her tiny foot up on the desk between my hands, still babbling away in her precious little voice.
“You’re the secret I keep, I just wanna be the one, I just wanna sing this song with you.”
[Click photo to view a larger version.]
Did you see decor8’s fun Stripe Mania post? (Sarah and Shanley, you know you want in on this!) Holly and Igor are rounding up stripe-wearing bloggers all over the world. Aveline and I thought we’d take part, too! So here we are, both wearing our stripes.
Definition of photography from my original 1847 Webster’s Dictionary: “The art or practice of fixing images of the camera obscura on plates of copper, covered with a thin coating of silver.”
[Click photo to view a larger version.]
There really wasn’t any food to photograph this morning. I was running around like a deranged (crabby) person getting ready for church. I thought about staging a breakfast photo after the fact, but here is my empty plate instead.
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