Feb 16, 2009

Stupid stupid purchase...

I really love to cook. And, the past six months I've taken it to a new level. Every Sunday morning while doing laundry I pour over my cookbooks and decide the week's menu. I make my grocery list accordingly and then skip joyfully to the store, eager to squeeze and smell all the potential vegetables, fruits and and meats. (No, I don't squeeze the meats.)

Well, Oliver is now 4.5 months old. And this past week, I've noticed whenever I eat or drink anything he stares at me with huge and curious eyes. It's almost like he's saying, "Heeeey Mama...Gimme some eggs! Hand me some chicken! Toss me some carrots!" In fact, he looks at me so longingly that I've started to feel badly eating in front of him. So, last Thursday I asked Oliver's pediatrician if I could give him some food. He's clearly showing an interest and let's face it, the taste of milk 24/7 has got to be getting old by now. In a word, he told me no. Apparently a baby shouldn't eat solids until they're 6 months old because their digestive system just isn't ready yet. He told me the longer I waited, the healthier his gut would be. Okay. Fine. I can totally wait.

But that doesn't mean I can't prepare.

This past weekend, Brett, Oliver and I went to look at high chairs. We're now deciding between the Stokke Tripp Trap and the Svan High Chair. Both chairs are modern looking and can be pulled up to the dinner table so we can eat as a family. After high chairs I browsed for sippy cups and baby spoons. And that's when I spotted a cookbook called Top 100 Baby Purees. Well, I thought, this is a fantastic idea! I'll totally make Oliver's food. How hard could it be? I must get this book!

Well, I'm pissed.

Once again, I feel like the marketers of the baby universe have convinced me to buy yet another totally stupid and unnecessary item. (Don't get me started on the organic mattress I bought for Oliver's crib. It weights 5000 lbs and has become the biggest pain in the ass I've ever dealt with in my life.)

I actually spent money on a cookbook that has recipes like this:



Banana:

Mash a small banana with a fork.

Add a little milk.






Avacado:

Cut a small avocado in half.
Take out pit.

Mash.
Add a little milk.





Papaya:

Cut in half.
Take out seeds.
Mash.
Add Milk.


The kicker was this one:

Banana, Avacado and Papaya:
1/2 banana
1/2 Avacado
1/2 Papaya
Mash all together.
Add a little milk.

REALLY??? Fine. Those are the no-cook recipes...but the carrot one is basically the same thing:



Carrots:

Peel and chop 4-6 carrots.

Steam for 15-20 minutes.
Put in blender and puree.
Add a little milk to desired consistency.





To be fair, those are baby's first foods. So obvioulsy I'm not adding spices like basil or rosemary or doing anything crazy. These recipes WILL probably taste better and be more economical than the mushy bland crap baby food sold at grocery stores. But really? Someone wrote and published a cookbook with those recipes? Can someone please get me the number of Random House? I'd like to publish a book on how to change a diaper. I see it going something like this:



Diaper:

1- Put baby on changing table.

2- Take old diaper off.

3- Wipe baby's behind.
4- Put on new diaper.





I may have to wait a month and a half to prove my culinary prowess to Oliver, but in the meantime, I'm going to continue practicing my brownie recipe on Brett and myself.

The cookbook's getting returned today.


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15 comments:

  1. Love your post! Isn't it fun when they sucker you in with Best For Baby! And Award Winning! And basically you stink as a parent if you don't buy/get/make this (enter item).

    I commend you for even trying to make baby food. I just opened the jar and away we went. For the record my baby boy, now 7, started eating rice cereal at four months and he's surviving just fine ;)

    Thanks for stopping by and for following! I love your blog name.

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  2. Hi! Thanks for visiting me - you might want to check out the Peg Perego Prima Pappa high chair, too. We bought it for our first child - and used it 8 yrs later with our second. It retired about 6 months ago and is still in great shape. We loved it.

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  3. OMG I know, I hate when i buy stupid crap. HaHa. You know when we were little babies ate really early. Ashlee was like starving and started waking up in the night. I put in a teaspoon or so with her bottle (the rice cereal) and it filled her belly up. Then she ate cereal along at about Oliver's age, and then I introduced her fruits one week at a time, then veggies one week at a time. She's fine. (Well, I guess. She is HEALTHY wise fine anyways hahaha). They change everything constantly with babies. I'm telling you my neice was told the same thing as you, and the kid was sucking down formula like no tomorrow by 5 months and started food too. do as you feel he needs. Babies have been eating for years. Momma knows best.

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  4. our friends actually have the prima pappa...they just didn't have it at the store we went too! Thanks for the rec!

    You buys should have seen him staring me down this morning while I ate my omelet! omg! he wants my food!

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  5. Ha, great post!
    Thanks for dropping by my blog, commenting, and following, I look forward to your return :)

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  6. Girl can I just tell you my doc said the same thing and finally at 5 and 3/4 months I gave Audrey food and I swear the shuttered after the first bite. So freaking full of gratitude! I make all her food (as I did with Ava) and it is way easy and cheap but I read somewhere that by the time baby eats the food on the shelf it is older than they are...eeeewww.

    xoxoxoxo

    P.s. Somtimes frozen organic veggies/fruits are better then using out of season veggies/fruits and are way easier b/c they have been cleaned and choppped!

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  7. I started giving all 3 of my kids rice cereal (thinned out) at 4 months. Just mix the cereal with his formula or breast milk. If he's hungry let him try it. He will probably make a funny gagging face the first few times!
    I tried to make homemade baby food too and it really is just a pain in the butt. My kids were all eating off of my plate by 9 months old anyway. They HATED baby food, especially the stuff with the chunks in it. OMG they would gag and puke! LOL, I love bringing back all of those memories. Sniff, I miss those times.

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  8. haaa! you should make a book about all of the stupid crap that new mothers really don't need. - especially urban mothers who are space challenged. seriously!
    and then show the basics. when i see friends baby registers i am freaked out at the thought of having to find space to put all of that stuff if we have a baby. i'm like, okay, what does a baby need REALLY?

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  9. omg, claudine...when you have one (which you will) I will totally tell you. I am the sucker who got all the dumb stuff. just ask me if you need it and i will tell you yes or no!

    Nicole- eating off your plate at 9 months! Wowsah! Since oliver is such a chunker, I think he might be doing that with me too! I'll keep you posted!

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  10. Organic mattress? Did you really?
    Good luck with the baby food. At least you know you can totally do it on your own. Mash and milk, mash and milk.

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  11. do you have the recipe for chewable pampers?

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  12. Funny! I saw that on SNL too! HILLARIOUS!

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  13. I'm writing down these recipes! (for when I'm old and toothless and senile)

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  14. Oh Smores! If even an advertising guru like you falls for these marketing ploys, how are the rest of us supposed to turn away?!?

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  15. yup... i fell victim to this kind of book as well. i am culinary challenged and i was even "What?! thanks book of the obvious." way to go making his baby food. i spend an entire weekend making a million purees and froze them in ice trays. one weekend and i had the freezer stocked for 6 months! it was great, and cheap

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