Creating Family: Snack Station and Structure

My little snack station is working out really well. Thanks, Christine and Aumar, for giving my mama the idea all those years ago when Aumar was my age!

While my mama made dinner she gave me some toast and some oranges. Then we ate burritos (again). I loved them (again). I ate my own, Uma-sized burrito all up! Then I ate some more of my mama's filling. I also tried some romaine lettuce because my mama seemed to enjoy it so much, but that was difficult to eat. (I liked yesterday's steamed young red chard much better and actually ate that.) My mama was still hungry after that; she has to make me a lot of healthy, rich milk. She ate some hearty, whole-grain cereal (including heirloom kamut and quinoa as well as millet, and other protein and nutrient rich whole grains) with unsweetened hemp milk (rich in amino acids, healthy omega fats, and protein). She gave me a dry piece. I seemed to enjoy that a great deal, though it took me a bit to eat it, so she gave me some with hemp milk by putting a few pieces at my snack station.

I ate piece after piece after piece, but the coolest part was that I really started to be able to rely on that as an actual snack station. I feel like my mama and I understand better how that stove/oven of mine can work for all of us. She cleaned the downstairs last night (by herself!) and even put the kitchen towels on one of the shelves of my oven! I don't mind sharing; it's wonderful to feel part of a family hustle and bustle. I felt so comfortable as she moved here and there cleaning and eating. I moved here and there and ate, too, coming back for pieces of cereal, then pear. I ate so much for dinner last night, both in my seat at the table with my mama and at the snack station while she cooked or cleaned. Actually, my mama wonders if I am moving through another growth spurt because I am eating a lot and still drinking a lot of milk.

I did whine rather regularly, though not overly often, wanting to be picked up, tugging at my mama's legs. She would just tell me what she was doing and sing me a song about it. She wouldn't pick me up, and that was ok. I would go off and play again and go and get another bite from my snack station.

My mama put some kitchen items, carefully selected by the both of us, in the cupboard of pots and pans that I like to open and close. A lid to a pot, a tray, a lid I found in the storage container cupboard, a part to the blender, a strainer. I played and made noise with those things while my mama took our table scraps and mixed them into food for the dogs. I played with balls and instruments while she cleaned the living and music rooms. We had a good night, and then we went upstairs to have a good rest.

I feel like my family is forming a structure to our days and our relationships. I feel like I am getting my needs met, and I am doing so independently fairly often for a just-turned 1 year old. I am loving life.