Monday, December 15, 2008

pac-girl!

I wanted to share this recent picture of me and little Luna. We are ready for the Pacquiao vs. De La Hoya fight. Note: Check her little homemade pac-girl shirt made an hour earlier.

I didn't want her to feel conflicted as a little Mexipino so I chose her side for her. Luckily, it was the side of the CHAMP! I'm looking forward to collecting my winnings from my husband.

Was that really a fight?

Thanks for the pic Armael.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

My Baby's Not for Show

Soluna is a dancer. It started out with a few leg kicks anytime my dad put on Louie Armstrong's "A Kiss to Build a Dream On." Like I wrote earlier, since she was 2 months old Soluna has had mama separation anxiety. She cried and cried and cried when I wasn't there and my parents or Ben's parents would try a million things to get her to relax. But usually, she just cried herself to sleep... until my Dad found a secret weapon: his MP3 player. When he played it for the first time, he thought she was having spasms, because she quieted down immediately and started kicking her legs.

For Mother's Day I asked for an iPod with speakers so that she could use it. And let me tell you... she LOVES music now. Anytime she hears a song she likes she is rocking, shaking her shoulder, throwing her hands in the air and every few days she has a new move thrown into the mix. It is the most beautiful sight to see and makes anyone around put a big smile on their face and usually gets them dancing too.

But there is one thing that we do not want to do as parents (even though we are tempted to now and then so others can smile to). We do NOT want to be those parents that are constantly asking, encouraging, pleading with their kids to perform in front of others. I think that's a recipe for disaster, for passions lost over parents needs to show-off. Usually that's way later, but I bet those kinds of things start when children are just babies. There is something so innocent and beautiful about her dancing that I want to protect it. I don't want to be that parent asking her to "Dance. Dance. Dance." when there is no music on just to show her off or make her into the baby-puppet.

My hope is that Soluna continues to love music and dancing. I hope that she has fun doing it because she loves how it feels and not because we ask her to or because she has made it a priority to impress or entertain other people. I do hope there are opportunities for folks to see her love of dancing, but I'm not going to push her out there for show. You better play some music and start dancing yourself first!

Filipino Arroz Caldo for the family and the baby!

Feeding Soluna food that is healthy and makes her do the yummy-dance while saying "Mmmmmm ... Mmmmm ... Mmmmm" has been one of my greatest challenges as a new mama. The past few months there has been one recipe that has almost always led to the aforementioned positive feedback from our little 11.5 month old. I'd like to share it with y'all because f'real... where can you find ethnic recipes for babies online?!?

Aya's Arroz Caldo Recipe for the Family and the Baby
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of garlic
2 1-inch slices of ginger
1 diced onion
1.5 cups of uncooked white rice (although you can experiment with brown rice)
10 cups of water
3 lbs of chicken (I prefer breast or drumstick, but you can choose what you want)
Patis or Filipino fish sauce
black pepper
1 chopped green onion
For extra veggies in babies food:
brocolli, carrots, cauliflower - I use a bag of veggies from Trader Joe's
water

Arroz Caldo directions:
In a large pot heat the olive oil. Lightly brown the garlic. Then add in the ginger and onion. Saute until the onion is translucent. Add the rice and saute for a few minutes. Add the water and bring to boil. Reduce the temperature and then add the chicken. Cook for 30 minutes. Add a small amount of patis for taste and a dash of black pepper. *** Set-aside what is for your baby! *** After the set-aside, you may want to add the rest of the patis and much more black pepper until you feel it tastes "right." Serve immediately and garnish bowl with green onion.

Baby's Arroz Caldo directions:
In a very small pot put a few pieces of brocolli, carrots, and cauliflower in about an inch of water. Cover the pot and cook for 10 minutes. When you are done cooking, mash up all the veggies or slice into small pieces depending on the texture your baby is eating at the time. Add as much of this mix into your Arroz Caldo set-aside as you want! Pull apart pieces of the chicken and add to the Arroz Caldo.

There you have it! YUM! Veggies, rice and chicken!