Hungry

Anjali is hungry. She is eating a lot. Her favorites are meats and fruits. However she just had cheese for the first time ~ raw cheddar ~ and approved. The other day when she and I were at the farmers' market together, we were eating a skewer of Thai chicken satay (like a kebab with spices and turmeric) and I could barely keep up with her demand! And she kept eating and eating and eating it until there was no more. Until very recently, she has eaten and enjoyed almost every food we have put in front of her ~ we eat good food! ~ but her appetite for it was limited. Over the past week she has eaten her portion, plus. And several times has continued eating until there was no more to be eaten. Then still she wants breastmilk. This girl is hungry! And feeling very solid for it ~ there's a reason all those pants are too short! She is growing growing growing and filling her cells with chicken satay, liver, and fruit fruit fruit. Well, probably the fruit is feeding her crawling crawling crawling. This is the perfect time of year for a baby's broadening menu, as the harvest is bountiful at the farmers' markets. Watermelons, cantaloupe, tomatoes, and the sweetest nectarines on the planet (I really think so) ~ all are available for sampling (and taking home, of course). I sliced up a delicious cantaloupe the other day into halves, quarters, and then cut up a quarter into baby-hand-sized pieces. I gave Anjali one, then another, and another as she ate them down. Then she wanted me to pick her up so she could see what was available. I held my hand next to the small pieces I had cut up expecting her to select one. She pointed and leaned her body until she had her hand on the quarter that I had left whole ~ she didn't want a baby-sized piece; she wanted the huge piece! So I let her have it and put her back down on the floor. I thought I'd see it soon laying somewhere half-eaten. No ~ it took her a while, but she ate it all (she even eats way down closer to the rind than I do). Another night we came home with a basket of (I promise *the* most delicious) strawberries. As I prepared dinner, Anjali rode around with me. She pointed to the colander of strawberries on the table. Ate one. And another. And another. And another. I thought for sure she must have dropped a couple, they were disappearing so quickly, but no ~ she was just eating them that fast! Somehow the colander mysteriously and very quietly relocated to the fridge. . certainly a baby could eat too many strawberries, right?? I also continue to be pleasantly surprised that she enjoys fermented veggies ~ the sour of the sauerkraut is not just novel, but tasty to her. As with the liver and cod liver oil, I'm not going to tell her that it's an acquired taste (if that!) for most Americans.

Happily for Mommy, breastmilk is still the staple food, and what she asks for most. And a meal is rarely complete without a topping-off from booby. I think she is just adding plenty of other goodness in with it.