Atomic Claremont

Mummy and Auntie Lala had business in Claremont today so I decided to take them out for lunch. I chose Atomic cafe because they have cool wooden high chairs and nice waitresses, who kept telling me how cute I am. 

I had a vego panini ($10.50), which contained one of my favourite ingredients - bread. 

I also helped Mummy and Auntie with their bacon burger and calamari salad ($18.50 each). Auntie is a burger expert and she said this one had a nice moist pattie, with free range bacon, aioli, gherkins, avocado and salad. My favourite bit was called "shoe string fries". I like to chew on Mummy's shoelaces but they don't taste the same. 

I also had a babycino ($1). It came with marshmallows and chocolate flakes! I had not had one before and I was a bit confused about how to eat it. 

Turns out it is a drink! Milk like I have at home, only warm and with bubbles. Yum! 

Do you like my moustache? 

Birthday cake

Apologies for not posting more frequently, I have been very busy, as only a little lady can be! I have started at daycare and have been making lots of new friends and more importantly trying lots of new foods.
I recently celebrated a milestone and was lucky enough to have multiple cakes made especially for me! Mummy kept it simple and made vanilla cupcakes with some sprinkles. I celebrated with my family and we had afternoon tea on my birthday. I really liked my cake but blueberries were better.

Mummy and Daddy also threw a big party for me. They wanted my cake to be something special and they asked my Nana to work her magic. Nana put in a massive effort and made this wonderful number! Mummy was worried that there would be too many guests and not enough cake, so Nana made extras just in case! They were yummy and I was lucky that Daddy was home for the week after my party as we got to eat the left over cake. Mummy would not have been as indulgent...

This cake is right out of the Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book. Nana used to make cakes for Daddy and AuntieK when they were younger! I am glad that I can help continue the tradition.

Baby Muesli

My Mummy made me my very own muesli mix today. She says that it is a great way to get some oats into me, and also to use up the last of the baby rice cereal that she bought for me.

She didn't measure anything, and she showed me the pretty layers that she had made of the different components. Actually, what is a component? I might need Auntie to help me with that word.

Mummy says that it is very easy to make, just layer the ingredients that you want into an airtight container, put the lid onto the container and shake! I like that part, I like anything that makes a noise. Mummy soaked some of the muesli in milk for ten minutes and put some of the yummy stewed pear, apple and blueberries that she made me on top.

This time around my muesli mix included:

• rolled oats
• weetbix
• almond meal
• baby rice+oat cereal
• a splash of quinoa flakes

Mummy says that she is on the lookout for other ingredients to try but she might see if I like them first before mixing them into a whole container of muesli.

Mummy also says that there is a cool shop called Loose Produce where she can go to buy some different things to put into my muesli. Do people really use the word "cool" these days? I must ask Auntie as well, I think that she knows better than Mummy about being "cool".

Eating out of a jar

I am a little embarrassed, sometimes my mummy feeds me out of a jar. I have to forgive her though, as most of my food is made from scratch. She only uses the jar food when she is in a hurry, or there is not enough time to make something fresh, and I am lucky that this does not happen very often! I see my mummy every day. She must love me to spend so much time with me. I try to be as cute as I can to let her know that I love her.

Brisbane

I thought that it would be a nice treat to take my Mummy and Daddy on a holiday. They have worked so hard to keep me safe and happy and it would be good for them to get away. It was not a holiday away from me but I am so cute that they wouldn't notice that they were still working!

We flew Business Class to give ourselves some extra leg room. The flight was a little bit boring so I slept for a while on Mummy, and entertained Mummy and Daddy when I was awake so that they didn't get too bored either. Mummy had ordered me an infant meal for the aeroplane, but when it came she decided that it was not appropriate for me. Instead of something new and interesting I got the same old stewed fruit and weetbix that she always feeds me.

The infant breakfast meal consisted of some rusks, a jar of pear+banana puree, a 150mL junior juice box and a 125g packet of baby rice cereal! Mummy has kept the cereal to give to my new friend BabyE, as she is a few months behind me on this culinary journey. The infant lunch meal consisted of rusks, a pouch of fruit puree, a pouch of vegetable puree and a 200mL juice box.

I thought that Brisbane would be a nice place to visit, and it would hopefully be a lot warmer than home! Mummy and Daddy also had not been there together, although Daddy lived there for a while when he was younger, before he met Mummy.

I have been so spoiled on our holiday. Mummy and Daddy have been sharing their meals with me and I have got to try a whole lot of interesting foods! They even ordered me my very own fish and chips and vegetables for lunch one day. One day Mummy ordered a meal for us to share, it was so small that she let me eat most of it! Wasn't that nice of her. She made up for it though, and had some gorgeous LICK! icecream. It was so yummy and she said that she could taste the cream. She gave me some but it didn't agree with the small bush nut that I picked up off the floor to taste. Daddy had to pull some first aid moves on me to help get the nut out of my throat.

I got to eat some new foods too:

• cucumber sushi
• chips!
• cheese sandwich (I usually have them toasted)

On a sour note, Mummy and Daddy tried to feed me some tuna baby food. It was horrible! I shed a couple of tears and they quickly got the message. Yuck!

Mummy and Daddy took me to Australia Zoo to meet the animals. I had a great time! I saw a tiger, and some tasmanian devils, and kangaroos and crocodiles and made lots of new friends. Here I am relaxing with one of my new friends on the drive home.

I had a wonderful holiday with my parents, and I am very glad that they took me... I mean that I took them away. I shall have to put some thought into the next one, although I heard a rumour of a wedding in Melbourne later in the year.

I am a River Cottage Baby

My Auntie gives some pretty good presents, and for Christmas she gave my Mummy and Daddy a copy of the River Cottage Baby & Toddler Cookbook. Mummy thinks it is pretty good, and has used it to make some more my more unusual purees. My favourites include Butternut Pumpkin with Lentils, Baked Apple and Rhubarb, and a yummy Spinach, Barley and Onion Puree.

The book has even got recipes for the whole family, and my mummy has been trying out some of the cake recipes for when I am a bit older.

Mummy tells me that the book is very good, as the recipes all give suggestions for how to make them baby friendly, or to jazz them up for adults. I am not really sure what she means, but as long as the yummy food keeps coming then I am happy!

Mummy has tried a few different cook books and she tells me that this one is the best for variety and foods that you might actually want to eat.

My favourite yummies

My mummy feeds me really yummy food and I thought I should share it with a wider audience than just the other babies at playgroup. After all, I've been supplementing my milk with solids for more than half my life (i.e., five months). Mummy cooks nearly all my food for me at home, which I prefer to packaged stuff (and so do my guts). She feeds me all sorts of food to make sure I'm not allergic, like peanut butter, scrambled eggs, prawns and crab. She's fed me some other yucky food that grown-ups eat. I almost spat out the truffle mash. I liked the caviar, though.

Here's a video of some other babies trying different foods for the first time. You will notice the joy on the face of the little girl at 2:16 - she is trying one of my very favourite foods.

That's right, I love yoghurt. Mundella Greek Natural is my favourite. Mummy says it's a local Western Australian brand, which she thinks is important. I also love toasted cheese sandwiches. Here I am eating one at Bennesse cafe in Bunbury, where I took Mummy and Auntie for my nine month birthday (it was also mummy's first Mother's Day).

The sandwich had yummy bread with lots of bits in it. Mummy also shared some avocado and mushrooms with me from her breakfast Veggie Stack. (The place where we stayed, Vintages in Margaret River, had a bowl avocados in the reception area and the nice lady there gave me some for free. I like avocado on my toast, although it usually ends up on my face and in my hair too.)

PS do you like my jumper? Nana made it for me. Auntie says I'm very lucky to have a bespoke wardrobe, although I'm not sure what that means. Sometimes she forgets that I can't even talk yet and my vocabulary is a bit limited.