Julia's Food Manifesto

I, Julia, do hereby promise to follow the set of guidelines listed below as they pertain to my food and my eating habits. Obviously, I don't have a lot of control over this for a while to come but still I believe this needs to be said.

1. eat as local as possible as often as possible (farmer's market, CSA, garden)
   
2. eat organic as often as possible (some farms are organic and sustainable without being certified by USDA, all I have to is ask how they deal with bugs and weeds)
   
3. eat independent as often as possible (although I can make a statement by buying from larger companies, I think we should support your local restaurants, grocers and other merchants instead of the huge global companies)
   
4. avoid any foods processed more than standard kitchen cooking methods (I don't think I will be a raw food person so I will always eat food that has been processed to some degree but I don't want to buy stuff that's been cooked in some giant tubed warehouse, frozen, re-hydrated and whatever else they do to food in those giant processing plants)
   
5. read labels on the food I buy in order to ensure I am avoiding dangerous ingredients (if I don't know what it is I will find out before I buy)
6. read labels on the food I buy in order to ensure I am buying products produced as close to me as possible (there can be two similar items on the shelf, I can see that one came from Canada, China or some other foriegn land and one came from the US, I will choose the one that came from the US)
   
7. share what I know with as many people as I can (I will talk about the food I eat, I will write about the places I eat, etc)
   

There will be exceptions to these rules as I grow older - as a well rounded individual I know I will have to try foods that fall outside of these perimeters - but I will always be mindful of where my food comes from and how it was grown, manufactured or cooked. I want to live a long and healthy life and I want to do my part in making the world around me better and these guidelines are simple things I can do which I believe will have a positive impact.

Please join me in living healthy and eating in a sustainable, nutritious way.

Julia sneaks a peak on her 13th Monthiversary

Peek-A-Boo
Originally uploaded by bmitd67

Another month older and just possibly a little bit cuter.

2010 - A New Year in Parenting

So I retired the breast pump on Julia's first birthday.
That was an awesome feeling!

The rest of that week and the next one before Winter Break I still nursed her 2-4 times each day. Before I left for work, when I got home from work and at bedtime, and then sometimes if Julia woke at 1-2am. During the 2 weeks of Winter Break I was home and decided to drop the evening feeding and mostly she slept through the night so I was down to 2 feedings.

Now that it is 2010, I'm really ready to wean Julia for real!

Yesterday I didn't feed her in the morning before I left for work or when I got home. I fed her after dinner, then I went to a 6:30pm Zumba class at the Y while Jai gave her a bath and read book before she went to sleep at 7pm. She slept ALL night and I fed her this morning because I had a vicious knot in my right breast. However, I'm going to feed her at bedtime tonight and not tomorrow morning; eventually my body will adjust.

I think that will be the LAST nursing session to drop - she likes her bedtime one, very comforting. In the morning not nursing is easier because she wakes and gets solid foods.

2009 was the year of breastfeeding Julia & working, but not much else.

2010 is the year of reading books with Julia and getting my body back in lean, mean, fighting shape. My goal is to lose 20 pounds by June and tone some of this flabby flesh! My friend Pauline's wedding on June 13 is a good time frame - 5 months. Then hopefully we're going to tennis camp after the nuptials. : ) I'd like to play in the tennis league this spring also - so I can be ready for camp.

Jai writes about the discoveries and wonders of Julia which makes sense because he is home with her most of the time. I enjoy reading his reflections - I see some of what I miss and am reminded of the funny & interesting things I witness too. Hopefully I will write more about the new phases of parenting Julia as I transition into different roles.

The job of a 13 month old...

Julia has a new job.

She still maintains hours as the household comedienne and noisemaker but she has recently become an interior decorator.

Her style? I would say she's a deconstructionist. She obviously thinks book cases are crap because she empties them on a daily basis. Sometimes she looks at the books but most often she just pulls the book off the shelf and tosses it to the floor. Then she's standing in the middle of a pile of books with a "what are you gonna do about it?" look.

Her other most recent strength is rearranging furniture. Today she started pulling her "music table" to the middle of the kitchen. Today after dinner she moved a couple of chairs from the corner of the room to the head of the table.

As with all things she is very serious about these things, but she is also having a blast!

Learning it all

I've had a lot of fun objectively watching Julia grow and learn. I never thought it could actually be fun but it is. Well, I never actually thought about it at all until Julia came along.

She's mobile now and more confident in that skill so she takes off down the hall and goes in this room and that one, squats to investigate whatever catches her eye, picks it up, drops it, leaves it, and comes back later to pick it up like its brand new. She smiles when she recognizes things...Johnders still gets the biggest reception in the house. A couple of weeks ago she started pointing. At first it looked like she was just pointing for the sake of pointing or pointing at the things she recognizes. Tara and I slowly started to realize that she was also pointing at things with the intention of learning what they were. She points at photos (Aunt Susie and some of our Christmas cards are her favorites) and moving objects, she points at people and stationary objects (her pointing isn't the most accurate somethings so it is hard to tell what she's after). Sometimes I wonder if I make things too complicated. For example, she pointed at a christmas package over and over so I started telling her more details about it; "it is green" or "it has stars" or whatever instead of repeating "bag" over and over. Who knows what she's actually thinking but she definitely wants information about everything around her. Most recently she started pointing at food especially the food she wants to eat! Again, her fingers aren't too accurate so it takes a lot of quizzing from Tara and me and waiting for Julia to react.

Today I noticed her reaction being a little more insistent than before and the accompanying dialogue (from her point of view) is something like:

"No, daddy. I'm pointing at THAT one." "No, not THAT one. THAT one!"

She's working hard to get the words out but they aren't quite there yet.

Today I saw a smile of accomplishment. Julia is working on the function of a spoon. She took her spoon from me and started digging in one of the cup holders on her high chair. Made sense to me so I put some food on the spoon and guided it to her mouth and at some point while digging for "cheerios" I saw a smile come over her face. It was, to me, a smile of recognition, an "aha" smile. She made the connection between the bowl, the food, the spoon and her mouth. It is those smiles and the moments of concentration when for example she studies the door hinge and then moves the door back and forth when I am dumbstruck with wonder and pride.

Julia, keep up the good work. I'm enjoying watching you do it.