More Videos

More videos for the grandparents!

Aeris trying pumpkin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmQ6gYDiZbI
Aeris laughing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR0cUayHjkY

Mountain sunset

Just a bunch of pretty sunset pictures from our date night last night - thanks Carl and Liz for watching Aeris for us!!

First food

It probably won't be a regular thing for another month, but... we gave Aeris some homemade brown rice cereal, or "gruel" as it might be translated from Japanese, this morning in honor of her turning 5 months old. She certainly doesn't have a problem with the spoon - she immediately grabbed it and shoved it into her mouth, swallowed the food, and then looked for more, heh. I'd say she swallowed at least 80% of it, and it was evident in her next diaper... so I think that's pretty good for the first time. There was little mess until she discovered where the rest of the food was hiding...


This video is a few minutes into the feeding; she was too hungry and we probably should have given her milk first!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxseFouaULk

And for anyone wondering, we have decided to do a variation of baby-led weaning, so look for more fun pictures of that in another month or so!

Thanksgiving '10... and Aeris, of course

We had our annual Thanksgiving party last night. It was a much smaller crowd than in years past, but we all had fun and got our fill of yummy food.



And a few others from this weekend:

More new videos

Aeris is officially sitting! Video proof, lol.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRF6bieyU5Q
And because it's funny (to me)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lpIextmLno

Starting solids in Japan

The other day Jeremy and I went to the store to check out what is offered here in terms of baby food. We were a bit surprised! I never thought that there would be much of a difference between Japan and America for some reason. I have all American baby books that all mention starting rice cereal and cereals in general between 4-6 months, then moving on to fruit and vegetable purees, etc - but that isn't quite the case in here. So, I've begun to research how "weaning" is done around the world and it's been fun and enlightening!

In Japan, the initial stage is 5-6 months when babies are given a meal containing a grain or cereal, protein, and fruit or vegetable once a day, moving onto two meals a day by the end of 6 months. They are expected to have tastes of food through various soup broths and juices well before then (from 2 or 3 months). Everything is given as a semi-liquid in the first stage - but mixed as a meal, no single foods. Proteins include eggs, bean curd, dairy, or fish (meat doesn't start until the second stage). Most of the baby food we have seen in the store is either dehydrated or premashed - just heat it up and eat alone or add rice. They have very few jarred foods. I think it's easiest for most parents to make their own baby food from what the rest of the family eats for dinner so there isn't the huge market for it here like there is back home. We've seen 5-6 month jar food like "salmon, soybean, and rice", "pumpkin and cheese casserole", or "mango and apple pudding". First home purees and food include: lotus root, lettuce/greens, diakon (Japanese radish), pumpkin, tomato, apples, banana, eggs, beans, and yogurt. Pumpkin is often a baby's first-food. I'm learning more and more as I research and translate. In the beginning most foods are spoon-fed, but finger foods are also offered. It seems like a mix between purees and baby-led solids.

I'm excited to have Aeris try solid foods. So far, she's only had a few tastes of banana when mommy or daddy is eating one - and she really seems to enjoy it. :-)

*edited*
I just found this list of 5-6 month foods separated as such for anyone who's interested in Japanese baby food (of course, they also had 7-8, 9-11, and 12-15 month foods). The following all had linked recipes, so we plan on trying some!

Carbohydrates:
Rice gruel
Milk bread gruel
Bread and yogurt gruel
Egg noodles
Vegetable Udon (thick noddle)
Peach noodles
Fish gruel
Whitebait gruel
Carrot gruel
Pumpkin gruel
Spinach gruel
Elephant water fish(???) and vegetables
Cooked macaroni and tomato
Taro gruel (a wild potato)
Potato gruel
Banana gruel

Protein:
Fluffy scrambled eggs
Yogurt and yolk
Bread and Egg gruel
Vegetable soup and egg yolk
Spinach Cottage(???)
Dried vegetables cooked with whitebait waste (broth)
Cooked tofu waste and lever
Broccoli and Tofu
The type of rape(???)
Carrot paste
Cooked beans paste
Cooked meat and eggs
Tofu and Pumpkin
Fish cooked in sleet(???)
Fish and potato paste
Broccoli tossed with egg yolk

Vitamins:
Spinach paste
Boiled fruit with carrots
Boiled carrots cooked in butter
Carrot and Banana
Boil carrots and turnips
Spinach tossed with egg yolk
Cabbage and milk
Boiled Vegetables and Milk
Boiled Vegetables with cooked cheese
Egg and vegetables
Grated cooked meals
Carrot and yogurt
Yogurt and tomatoes
Tofu and pepper gruel
Yogurt and spinach

Thanks Google Translate!

Interesting, eh? Well, at least it is to a mom of a baby who will start solids soon, lol...

New videos

Here are a couple new videos for the (great)grandparents:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGtKTqy_WeQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg1FHkMRfMo