Recently Zayden has learned to crawl and pull himself up on furniture. He hates to sit still for long and is just generally burning calories like a maniac. My chubby little Buddha baby has thinned out as a result (he actually lost a pound in the last month), but he’s also developed an exponentially larger appetite. I thought the “eating us out of house and home” thing didn’t start until boys hit their teens years, but I guess I was wrong.

A typical breakfast used to be a bowl of oatmeal and a little fruit. Now he eats almost twice as much oatmeal, half a banana, a handful of cheerios, some yogurt and often some of whatever fruit I happen to be eating that morning. Whenever I take him for lunch at a restaurant, I wonder how much of my meal I will get to eat. He will eat all the food I brought for him plus up to half of my order. Needless to say, pre-cooking batches of his favourite food is no longer the time-saver it once was. A supply that once lasted weeks may only last a few days now.

All signs point to table food–when baby begins to eat what the rest of the family eats on a regular basis. This week my husband and I, ever the organized foodies, planned our first ever menu with Zayden in mind. Every meal we eat this week will include Zayden-friendly food. It will definitely make the baby food situation a little easier to manage.