So in an effort to publish mid-week posts on this blog, I figured I’d give a shot at “What’s She Doing Wednesdays” to write about new little quirks, developmental milestones, likes/dislikes, funny behaviors, etc. So here we go:

What’s She Doing Wednesday – My House is a Battlefield

In the short few days into this first full week of 2015, Jia has managed to really show me a new and growing side of her. This week I really felt like I was starting to raise a toddler. Oh boy.

Here’s what I’ve experienced in the last (maybe not even) 48 hours:

• I put safety gates at the top of two sets of stairs, not bottom. We decided to wait on the lower gate to see if Jia would actually climb them. Tonight (Wednesday) I turn my  back to load the dishwasher real quick and was away for MAYBE one minute and return to find Jia already climbing up on the 3rd stair. I supervised her while she successfully climbed the remaining 4 steps to the gate. Time to get a bottom-of-the-stairs gate. This was definitely THE week to get the safety gates installed. Thank goodness I ordered them Saturday and PRIME delivered them by Monday. Patting myself on the back here.
• She has decided she doesn’t like smashed food. She was a fan on Sunday. Not after. Unless it’s breakfast and she’s eating mixed berries with oatmeal. Turns head violently away from the spoon and refuses to look back at me til she can “feel” that the spoon is nowhere close.
• We found the first food she disliked: Yogurt. HATES yogurt. And it’s great that I got a huge tub of Plain Organic Whole Milk yogurt, since that was a waste. Thank GOODNESS she was a fan of the (yogurt) chicken I baked tonight and scarfed down an entire mini-chicken breast! (recipe is below). This kid loves (loved, because who knows now): black eyed peas, spinach, pumpkin, quinoa, lentils, all fruit, brussels sprouts, green beans, avocado, beets, carrots, butternut squash, peas, fig, kale, persimmon, salmon, chicken, turkey. Yogurt really took me by surprise. 
• She’s found she can command the doggies by dropping food on the ground. She gets a huge kick out of this (look at the picture above), in between screaming because she doesn’t feel like eating the food she used to love.
• Threw her head back in annoyance that she wasn’t allowed to drink from her sip cup until her spinach/sweet potato-smothered face is cleaned off.
• I can no longer dump a handful of Happy Baby puffs to keep her occupied while I prep her food/dinner/clean dishes. She now eats a small amount then drops them one by one to Mei Mei. Then laughs her head off.
• As I’m typing this, she’s flicking the cords behind the TV and peeks around the corner at me with a VERY mischievous grin on her face as she cackles.
• Discovered and loves trash cans. This includes the bucket we keep her dirty soaking poo cloth diapers. Ewww.
• “Doggie water bowl? Fantastic place to clean my hands” (I’ve had to run and pull her away from it twice since starting this post)
• She discovered the unending fun that is toilet paper. We keep a roll of the “good stuff” in her changing table area, in case we get a real hefty poo in a cloth diaper. 

But thankfully, here are some beautiful and adorable new things we’ve seen:

• She can say “mama” “dada” “yesh (yes)” and “mei-mei”
• She doesn’t need to wear bibs now! No more outfits hidden by bib after bib after bib! Took 10 months to get here, but I’m glad it is here!
• She gives sweet hugs and rests her head on our shoulders.
• Crawling, cruising, standing and near-walking all in 3 weeks.
• She’s really observing things.
• Comprehends “No.” Not that she stops what she’s doing every time, but when she’s doing something and I say “No,” she startles, stops doing it, and falls over, haha… (she usually continues onto what she was doing)
• Pets the doggies really nicely.
• She loves brushing her teeth. When she’s upset about something (usually she’s upset because she was cruising and knees gave out or she hit her head), we usually can make her happy by handing her the toothbrush.
• I used to struggle in finding ways for her to eat meat because I didn’t like the idea of cooking ground beef/turkey/chicken and pureeing it, but now that she loves finger foods the most, she is a huge fan of deli turkey and chicken. She loves Columbus brand (no MSG, gluten-free, whole turkey breast, 99% fat free) reduced-sodium sliced turkey breast. Well she may like other meat, but this is the only one I’ll give to her. 
• That thing she does when I say “No”? How she startles? It’s hilarious, but if she’s crawling and getting into something when I say “No,” she’ll collapse on her belly and face and shake her feet and head. No screaming, no crying, just an overdramatic shake and it. Is. Hilarious. 

World’s Best Baked Chicken

(I would call it: Garlicky Tasty Yogurt Baked Chicken) Recipe from familyfoodandtravel.com, I’m listing how I did it, which means I eyeballed everything.

• 5 chicken breasts (they were small)
• About 1/2-3/4  cup of yogurt (the recipe says to use Greek, but I used the whole milk plain from TJ’s since it was obviously on-hand since my non-picky eater hates it)
• About 3 Tbsp grated parmesan
• 3-4 garlic cloves minced (fresh)
• 1 Tbsp chopped onion (fresh)
• Salt and Pepper (I did about 6 rotations in the pepper mill and salt grinders)
• A couple teaspoons of italian seasoning (I had Jeff’s italian seasoning mix that had parmesan in it too)

Preheat your oven to 375. Put your defrosted chicken in a big ziplock bag. Mix all your other ingredients in a bowl. Dump the mixture into the ziplock bag and shake it up, shake it up. I punched the chicken breasts a bit, too. Lay them out on your foil-lined baking sheet. Pop them in the oven for 35 minutes and they’re done! I broiled them for about 5 minutes to get them browned on top (the recipe recommends doing this) like seen in the pic! So easy. So yummy. 

Anyway, I chopped the chicken up into small pieces and fed them to Jia with my fork (I think using my fork made her feel like she was stealing my food) and she gobbled up about a 4-inch chicken breast! I also managed to sneak in some little pieces of green beans. Thank GOODNESS! Happy fed baby. Whew. 

Hope you enjoyed this first installment of WSDW!

(And yes, I still dress her in her Christmas clothes, ’cause if I’m not leaving the house I’m going to get use out of those one-time outfits! Like her “My First Turkey Day” onesie that I still put on her!)

Pictured above is Jia’s cleaned-off EZPZ Less Mess Happy Mat in Coral, which I think is about the coolest invention for infant feeding! It is a food-grade silicone mat-and-plate-in-one that you just plop onto your table and baby can’t shove, pull, swat, or pick up. It’s dishwasher safe and makes mealtimes way easier and less messy than without! It’s a genius invention that was started through KickStarter and the inventor, Lindsey, is creating bowl and snack versions! Order one on Amazon here or on her website, ezpzfun.com!)