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Learning to Walk and Butt Spins + Friday Foodie Fun Facts: Pears

Only 3 days left until my “bet” that Avery would be walking by 10 months will expire. Of course, technically, this counts as walking, right?

She’s getting very close, just needs to let go and realize she doesn’t need support to stand on her own. It’s hard, but we are trying not to rush it as that will make the task of keeping up with her all that more difficult! A crawling baby is hard enough as it is!!

Although, she does give us a break every now and then just to spin on her butt….

This is pretty new and took me a while to actually capture on video, but now she does it multiple times a day. Her Aunt Lindsay, Going Mom’s sister, said she just likes a panoramic view, and I fully agree!

But I don’t think she’ll be “grounded” much longer. I’ve been catching her working on her leg strength with squats to prepare for her momentous first steps.

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What do you think? Before 11 months for sure or would say even longer?  I feel pretty confident she’ll make those steps before her 11 month mark, but only time will tell for sure.

Maybe she’ll be motivated as we start going to meetups with the Dallas Dads Group another stay-at-home dad, David Kepley, and I just started with a lot of help from some great guys at City Dads Group.

Our first official meeting is tomorrow, at nice park with a miniature train to ride! How do you think an almost 10 month old will handle a train ride? I think she’ll love it.

Now, being Friday, that means I have a few fun food facts to share. We’ve been receiving organic, local produce each week from a co-op we just joined, and I’ll start giving facts about one of the items we receive. Today, it’s pears.

I love pears and haven’t had them in a while, so it was a nice treat to see them in our last box. Being organic, I just grabbed one and ate it as is, no need to wash since even organic soil has nutrients. It was delightfully tasty and left me eager to learn more about this sweet treat. Turns out, there’s a lot to know; here’s a few things….

  • Before tobacco was introduced in Europe, pear leaves were smoked.
  • Pears are often recommended for weaning babies because they are low in acid and aren’t too harsh on a baby’s digestive system.
  • Pears have more nutrients per calorie than calories per nutrient which is surprising since they are so sweet. They are a good source of dietary fiber, vitamin C, copper & vitamin K.
  • Pears don’t float.
  • Most pears ripen from the inside out, and if left on the tree to ripen, many varieties will turn brown and rot in the middle.
  • The skin of pears contain at least three to four times as many phytonutrients as the flesh. These phytonutrients include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory flavonoids, and potentially anti-cancer phytonutrients like cinnamic acids. The skin of the pear has also been show to contain about half of the pear’s total dietary fiber.

Wow, I’d say when put against these bell-shaped treats, other fruits just can’t com-pear!

Happy Friday!

Why I Feel Like the Worst Dad + Foodie Fun Facts #7: Coconut

Hello and welcome to the end of the work week! Well, for most people anyway. If it’s not the end for you, then welcome to Friday!

Does your kid have a favorite parent they gravitate to more than the other? Are you that favorite parent, or are you seemingly on similar polar fields as your child causing them to repel from you? I feel like the latter as of late and it’s driving me insane!

For the past few mornings, Going Mom will be holding Avery after feeding her and then tried to hand her to me so she can get ready for work. But, Avery grasps onto my wife’s robe and starts crying making her unwillingness to come into my arms obvious….very obvious.

On one hand, sure, I get it, who would want to leave the arms of such a beautiful lady? But on the other hand, what the hell?! I’m Daddy, a pretty nice guy and her only daytime playmate so far.

How can I top those sweet kisses?
How can I top those sweet kisses?

It even happens without Going Mom picking her up. I’ll be laying inside the playpen with Avery, and Kelley will just walk by and Avery will start crying (real tears and all) as if my presence means nothing. This makes me feel like I’m the worst dad in the world!

I keep telling myself this is just a phase, as we usually do with a baby, but this has been eating away at me since the first occurrence. Please, tell me this ends soon and won’t last for months. She’s fine when it’s just us, but I want her to be happy to come to either of us when we’re both around.

Of course, I also want her to eat all of the veggies we give her, go to sleep without a fuss, and let us know the instant she poops. But for now, I’d be happy with her not crying when being handed to me. Otherwise, I just might become crazier than a coconut!

Speaking of, I have some coconut facts to share with you for today’s Friday Foodie Fun Facts. How do you like my segue? Hmm, maybe it’s my corniness that repels her….

Coconut Fun Facts

  1. Technically the coconut fruit is a drupe not a nut. Typical drupes include peaches, plums, and cherries.
  2. Coconut oil was the world’s leading vegetable oil until soybean oil took over in the 1960′s.
  3. Coconut oil contains MCT’s (medium chain triglycerides) which are easy to digest and a great source of energy that also helps boost metabolism.
  4. Falling coconuts kill 150 people every year – 10 times the number of people killed by sharks.
  5. In Thailand and Malaysia, trained monkeys are used to harvest coconuts. In some of the countries, annual competitions are held to find the fastest harvester.
  6. Coconut water can be a substitute for blood plasma. It was known to be used during World War II in tropical areas for emergency transfusions.
  7. The coconut does not get dispersed like other drupe fruits which spread through consumption by wildlife. Since coconut is very buoyant and highly water resistant, the coconut palm disperses its seed using the ocean.

I’ve been enjoying coconut a lot lately and love it’s health benefits and flavor! I’ll use organic canned coconut milk for smoothies, mixed with beans in a puree, as well as just milk to drink. Shredded coconut is also great added to cereal or sprinkled on baked goods.

Do you like using coconut? Any recipes/tips you care to share?

Any advice on how to get your baby to like you again?

Five Foodie Fun Facts for Friday #2

Alright, it’s Friday!! I’m willing to bet the clock is watched more often on Friday than any other day of the week. What do you think?

In an attempt to be consistent with my Friday Fun Facts that I first posted last week, I present to you another installment of 5 foodie fun facts you may or may not know.

Posting these almost every Friday shouldn’t be a problem because I’m learning new things about food as well. And, as many of my friends, family, and readers might know, I’m pretty into food.

  1. Popcorn pops because water is stored in a small circle of soft starch in each kernel. As the kernel is heated, the water heats, the droplet of moisture turns to steam and the steam builds up pressure until the kernel finally explodes to many times its original volume.
  2. The same chemicals that give tart cherries their color may relieve pain better than aspirin and ibuprofen; about 20 tart cherries a day could reduce inflammatory and headache pain.
  3. The banana plant can grow up to 20 feet tall, which is the height of a two-story house. This large tropical plant is really an herb which means it does not have a trunk like a tree. The stalk is composed of leaf sheaths that overlap each other and grow from an underground stem called a rhizome.
  4. Egg shells have as many as 17,000 tiny pores, and can other absorb flavors and odors. Keeping them in their cartons helps to maintain freshness and flavor! Egg yolks are one of the few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.
  5. One bushel of corn will sweeten more than 400 cans of soda.

I love making air-popped popcorn, and thought it was cool to know exactly how those little guys “come out of their shell” and turn into those fluffy, white puffs that are fun to eat. Much better than using them to make soda…

Tomorrow, Saturday, our little family will be going to visit several other families nearby. I met the dads through a dad blogger’s group on Facebook, and one of them offered to have everyone come over with their wife and kids.

Hopefully Avery is cooperative and has a good nap so we can head over there in the early afternoon.

Who me? Of course I'll be good!
Who me? Of course I’ll be good!

I’ve already explained my peculiar food ways after they generously offered several things to eat, but I think we’re on the same page with having good beer!

We are looking forward to a good time and getting to meet new people. The kids coming over vary in age, and I think the one closest to Avery’s age is 11 months, so maybe they’ll have something to….errr, blabber about….

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Any plans for the weekend?

Ever meet up with others that you met online?