Marmalade

I loved reading all of the Paddington Bear books when I was in elementary school, and while I was reading those I remember asking my mom if we could have some marmalade, as I was curious as to what it tasted like. It's Paddington's favorite food in case you haven't read any of the books. After I had the marmalade, I decided it was definitely not one of my favorite types of jelly, but I was glad I had tried some. Yesterday I finished reading the first Paddington Bear book to my kids, and of course they had been asking for marmalade. I bought some on Thursday night, and after his soccer practice Ian and Oliver each had one piece of toast with marmalade on it. Nadia tried some on a biscuit last night. Ian wanted grape jelly on his sandwich at lunch yesterday, but he did ask for marmalade for his biscuit at dinner. It is so delightful to reread books that I loved so much as a child!

The other new food the kids tried this week was ham and bean soup. Nadia loves to eat ham, so you think she'd like the soup. Nope, but she did finish it (although it took her one hour to eat a very small bowl of it). Ian wouldn't even try his so he went to bed hungry and will be having soup for breakfast this morning. We haven't had to go through this routine in a few months. Oliver asked for more soup after he fed himself his first bowl. I took away the tray from the booster seat a few days ago, and this has made all the difference in the world. Now he is primarily using utensils to feed himself instead of his fingers. I guess having his bowl on the kitchen table rather than his tray makes a difference to him. He's gotten much better at feeding himself a bowl of cold cereal with milk. He still could use some improvement with yogurt, but my days of feeding him are over because if I try to feed him a bite he protests and says "MINE" (meaning I want to do it). I've been insisting that he go back to wearing a bib during this time of refining his skills in using utensils, and I'm very pleased with the progress he's making. Of my three kids continues to be my best eater.