Homage to Hummus

Seth is a full contact eater.  I LOVE watching him eat.  Cleaning him up afterwards is a different story.

During meal times, we have been working on baby sign language inspired by my sis-in-law who did this with her girls and put in to practice thanks to Andrej and Sarah who loaned us some how-to DVDs. Seth loves "Signing Time with Alex and Leah" and has become a pro at:

"All done"

"More"

"Milk"

And by pro I mean, Taylor and I and sometimes Sarah understand him.

We are currently working on please and thank you, but he can basically say please already so he just says it (sometimes) instead. "Pees!"

My one beef so far with American sign language is "all done."  Food caked hands encouraged to go near clean hair = bad idea jeans.

Seth's new favorite food is hummus.  Encouraged by my friend, Kara, to give it to him in a bowl so that he can practice using a spoon, I gathered up my courage and tried it yesterday.  Finally.  (She told me about this back in April.) I had been wrestling through it because:

A) I didn't want to "spoon feed" Seth too long so I knew it needed to be tried soon, but...

B) I didn't want to clean up a huge mess

I don't know about the rest of you moms out there, but isn't this a central struggle in child-rearing -  doing what's easy over what's best?  Now,  I realize that letting Seth practice using a spoon is hardly a big character building exercise for him, but I was surprised to find that it was for me.  I like control.  I like things my way.  I like to avoid doing things that I don't like to do (ie cleaning the already clean kitchen floor, again.) But the Lord has gently been teaching me to let go (read Susannah's amazing post on letting go here)  and not be afraid of the mess.

So as I contemplated handing over the literal and proverbial spoon (and bowl - the major source of potential mess making), I realized that the decision was about choosing what is easier in the short run for me or what is better in the long run for Seth.  I mean, I can't send him to school one day without being able to use utensils, right? I'm so thankful to the Lord that He helps us with the letting go of control in little ways so that when I have to really let go 17 years from now when he heads off to college, I've had some {heart} practice.  I want to be a good mom and being a good mom doesn't mean doing everything for him his whole life especially when it's done out of avoiding a potential (or even probable) mess for me.  And right now, it's time for him to learn to use a spoon.  He was happy to oblige and to my surprise and delight, he was pretty good at it.  That is until he realized that he was much more efficient at shoveling the hummus in in larger more satisfying quantities by using his hands instead.

Rome wasn't built in a day, eh?

Here is his progress and a really yummy hummus recipe:

Spoon is discarded before I even have time to snap a photo

What Mom?  This is waaay easier.

Don't I look cute with hummus all over my face?

You know you think so

Look! I'm using an oat cake as my spoon!

You gotta try this stuff Mom.  It's delish!
I may also be excited about the monkey I just found at the bottom of my bowl.

So thanks to Pottery Barn Kids, a mess was avoided because even though the bowl ended up on the floor 3 times, all hummus stayed affixed to the bottom of the bottom heavy bowl that landed upright. Oh the wonders of modern baby paraphernalia.

Michael's Hummus
*This recipe comes via Susannah slightly adapted (by me) from the Mom-a-Licious cookbook by Domenica Catelli. Did you follow that? This cookbook gives great healthy eating recipes for kids - I love every recipe I've tried! Her kale recipe is to die for (spoken from a picky vegetable eater) and it's fast and easy!  Commercial over - no I was not paid for hyping this book.

Serves 6 (or 2 if Seth and I are involved)

1 can chickpeas, drained
1/4 c lemon juice
1 T tahini
2 cloves garlic
1/2 t cumin
1/3-1/2 c extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 t salt

Place ingredients in food processor or blender.  Pour EVOO thru top of food processor/blender while it's on high. Stop processing when it reaches desired consistency.

In the words of Seth, "Mmmmmmmmm!"

I thought I'd change it up a bit and show you that we do actually let him out of his high chair since many of my photos lately don't depict that crucial fact. And, how cute are those shoes?!