onward ho!

i guess i caused some concern with the mention of introducing a one year old to twinkies and micky-Ds. fear not my friends. she HATED twinkies and mcdonalds anything. and you know what? it was interesting to me how awful and fake twinkies tasted. i hadn't had one in ten years and i bought a pack and bit into it enthusiastically because i remember them being really good. then she watched me spit it out, because yuck. she did stick a finger in the cream and lick it. then she wiped her hands on her shirt and walked away.

so.

i decided to do things her way. i've expanded her menu with: natural peanut butter on butter crackers, hormone free ham, suhlungtang (a thick korean beef soup), and other meat soups, fruit that she loves with home made whip cream, nuts (peanuts/cashews/pine), other korean fatty fish that i don't know the name of but my mom brings it home from the korean store now, stuff like korean pancakes and jun fried in lots of olive oil, rice mixed with sesame oil (with a little salt, seaweed and some teeny friend and seasoned anchovies made into little rice balls perfect for her teeny hands) and get this, she loves crab legs dipped in butter. oh, and she'll eat whole legs of the Korean Fried Chicken from the chain from the motherland, BBQ (stands for Best of the Best Quality Chicken. they fry it in Olive oil. it's really good stuff man. i could never go back to KFC now.) most of the non korean stuff is from trader joe's. i don't know what i'm going to do without them next year. they aren't in hawaii yet. they have such good things for so cheap.

she was already and is still getting 1 to 2 pediasures a day, one serving of yobaby yogurt a day and all the milk she wants to drink plus lots of seaweed, veggies and fruit. i have to admit that the increase in variety has made things a little more fun -- although it's a pain to have to buy so many different things now.

she will NOT eat eggs. not boiled, not fried, not scrambled, or poached. tofu has also been hard. although i've concealed it in her soups and mandoo with some success. she was also really unhappy with any kind of protein powder added drink i gave to her. but other that that, think it's going well. we'll have to see, i guess.

oh, i guess i should mention that i'm focusing on increasing her protein so much because her blood test came back indicating that she's not taking in enough. it's a little concerning because she actually loves meat and eats some at each meal. plus she drinks a fair amount of milk. at the same time, i'm hoping i wasn't giving her enough and that's why her levels were low, not because she's unable to absorb it or something.

also, we weighed her yesterday because i had to stop by the doctor's office for something. and she's actually lost 2 ounces.

i am trying not to worry.

in other news, captain j left yesterday. it was a wild two weeks for him. for me, it was really nice not to have to be in charge of ALL the baths and diapers and reading of books and feeding. this parenting thing is so much easier with a partner.

it was also pleasantly surprising how fast natty took to a guy she probably doesn't remember. it was a trip for him to see a walking talking little girl. he last saw her at 10 months. but for her, he was a stranger at first. at the airport she kind of hid behind me and resisting him picking her up. but then she saw the way her brother ran joyously into his arms and hung onto him every chance he got, and she soon enough decided that he was pretty cool after all. towards the end of the visit she preferred him over anyone except me.

there was much eating, fun and merriment. we did a trip to disneyland and a road trip to vegas which turned into a family reunion with people flying in from northern california and honolulu. it wasn't as hard to say goodbye as i thought it would be. there was some crying from noah this time. but for the most part i think we're both optimistic people. seeing as how relatively safe things have been for him so far my anxiety level has gone down. 4 more months. we agreed to power through it and end things well.

almost there.