more on food

Today is first day of lent for those who observe it; no one in this household. We love food and don't deny ourselves, but we enjoy wholesomely. As you can tell from the videos below, Lilly is quite fond of food she can manage herself: she'll gnaw on a piece of apple (with her one tooth) and is able to down quite a few pieces of bread. She does not care for solids given her with a spoon (though she does like to hold and chew on the spoon), however, except perhaps for mashed pear. Other foods we've tried include mashed banana, avocado, potato, carrot, and oatmeal with breast milk. She will eat potato if it's in little pieces that I give her with my fingers (and that she can get her hands into as well). Mainly she eats milk. And since she's about tripled in weight since birth, she needs milk about every second hour, day and night (needless to say, she still sleeps with us). I have in turn lost all the weight I gained while pregnant (a lot: about 55 pounds, or 25 kg). Our midwife kept reassuring me I'd need the fat reservoirs while nursing. She was right. It's as if my body had the wisdom to stock up for this milk-loving big little baby. A friend of mine here in Oslo gained less than me though pregnant with twins. She has a petite frame and also has constant pain from rheumatism, perhaps her body knew it had to minimize its burdens?

In any case, with Lilly being so independent and content in her high chair as long as she gets to do what we do (that seems like a contradiction, huh), new pleasures have opened themselves up to us. For instance, going out to eat. The above picture is from Valentine's day when we went to the Cafe Theater at Trikkestallen (Torshov) here in Oslo. While Lilly gnawed on a piece of cucumber from my dinner, Leighton and I got to eat our meals, with both hands. We had planned on going out on mother's day instead a couple of weeks earlier (mother's day is earlier here in Norway than in the US). But I had come down with a cold so Leighton treated me here at home instead. Not just did he make dinner, he cleaned the apartment, treated me to a massage, and sat me down with a musical to watch on DVD: Fame (as mentioned before, Lilly too loves a good musical, so we had quite the afternoon around here). Life ain't bad.