Tag Archives: solid foods

The Hana Chronicles: Month 5, Day 18

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Education, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

June 8, 2026- Hana took it upon herself to help me in revising her schedule today. On her own, she pointed towards the master bedroom, wanting to be put down for a nap. This nap lasted two hours, after which she enjoyed her lunch of beef and rice, followed by a bottle. There was then an hour or so of play, in the pen,-and a second nap, which wasn’t nearly as long.

Another hour of play was followed by a couple of stories, which she found amusing and a short walk along one of the nearby side streets. By this time, four hours had passed since her last meal, so she had her second bottle of the day. Altogether, she is down to four feedings of milk per day and the given day’s pureed solid food.

She is diligently working at crawling with her torso off the ground and trying to sit unassisted. She is also vocalizing more, especially calling for her mom and dad. She is also less prone to crying for them, perhaps starting to be secure in knowing that they will be coming home after work.

It is a joy to see my granddaughter want to be a full agent in her growth and development. I look forward to all the stages ahead.

The Hana Chronicles, Month 5, Day 15

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Entertainment, Family, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

June 5, 2026- Granddaughter reveled, in eating pureed cabbage, this morning. She seems to revel in eating just about everything so far. (Zucchini being a question mark.) Hana is definitely a member of the Clean Plate Club, without being coaxed. If this persists through toddlerhood and the Fussy Eater years, so much the better.

Our day went well, with lots of independent play time in the pen, as well as Papa being in there, for the sake of reassurance and companionship. We explored a horseshoe-shaped side street, Chester Drive, which starts one block north and curves around to the east, behind our cul-de-sac. A young couple had just come back from Friday prayers, clad, head-to-toe in black. Otherwise, the street was quiet and empty. Hana didn’t mind the quietude.

As she napped, this afternoon, I read a piece about the Dutch director, Wim Wenders, who expressed regret for having depicted a certain actress in the nude, when she was only thirteen. He has removed the objectionable scenes from all versions of that film. The actress in question, now in her 60s, recently expressed how painful it has been, all these years, to have been so depicted in that film, and in two others a year, and three years, later. One hopes that the other two films may also be expunged of the tawdry scenes.

Many men, myself included for many years, gave scant thought to how it must have felt to girls and women baring all, in films, and even in glossy magazines. I knew better, by the time I was thirty, and Hana’s paternal grandmother had come into my life, along with the Baha’i teachings, which stress the dignity and worth of all human beings. Before that, there was always the double standard: A man’s (or boy’s) female relatives were held high above the world of sensuality. We respected our friends’ sisters and mothers also. There was a friend zone, which included a measure of respect, for the girls around us. Somehow, that did not extend to the world of “entertainment”.

More’s the pity. I started to take exception to the cavalier treatment of teenaged female actors, when very young girls were presented to audiences, in various states of deshabille. I did not watch any of those films, more out of shame over my past private thoughts and cavalier attitude. Then came Penny, our shared Faith and my career in education, which included the protection and guidance of girls and boys alike. There was no longer a double standard.

What this has to do with Hana is that, from Day One, her father and I are all the more committed to her well-being and development of her entire person. She is a sharp-eyed, intuitive person, making it all the more imperative for us to eschew any semblance of a double standard. Besides which, the old attitudes are just rotten for any man’s soul.

We are all so much more than eye candy.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 5, Day 14

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Education, Family, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, service, Social, Striving

June 4, 2026- My granddaughter had a few comments on the singing birds and on encountering the same mother and baby we met yesterday. She was quite happy with our walk, even along the somewhat bumpy grass path that brought us closer to our house, on the way back. It was warmer today, and the sun was more direct, but Hana was shielded by both a sun visor and her stroller’s canopy. Her skin was warm when we got back, so I put infant-safe lotion on her arms, legs and neck. Sunscreen is not recommended for children under the age of two.

She likes the solid foods to which she’s been introduced so far-and that includes the broccoli that she’s had for the past three days. Tomorrow, it will be cabbage’s turn. Sitting in a high chair, for ten-minutes, has also proven easier than I had thought. She sits straight and keeps her posture-and I have a tray in place, for extra support. Sitting in the chair for more than ten minutes is probably not a good idea until she can sit up straight, without support from furniture. Still, the high chair makes feeding easier.

She misses her parents, along about the time that her body clock tells her that they should be home. That is her challenge, but she also knows that she is safe with her Papa. Their schedules will even out, starting next week, so this should be less of a problem. Her awareness is, nonetheless, very keen.

Overall, though, Hana is a bright, engaging and generally happy little girl.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 5, Day 10

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Family, Personal Values, Striving

May 31, 2026- Hana’s two bottom incisors, the “front teeth”, are out from under her gums. Her Dad was the first to do the honours of “brushing” them with a soft cloth, this morning. Her parents find that all the other milk teeth (“baby teeth”) are under her gums. They will appear right on schedule, it seems. The process this time was fairly quick, in terms of the discomfort she felt. She likes her yellow teething ring and would massage the eruption area with her fingers, when it got too uncomfortable.

In another month, we should see the two top incisors, with all the rest coming in by the time she reaches the age of two. If the first eruption is any indication, Hana will call attention to the arriving teeth and try to provide her own soothing, while gratefully accepting comfort from her grown-ups.

She is very chatty, and among other things, will hold her cloth book that features a few zoo animals and begin talking aloud about what she sees. This is her mimicking our read alouds, of course, but we acknowledge her efforts and show that we take her speech seriously. She is also eating pureed foods-having taken some rice porridge, zucchini and sweet potato, thus far. The last one is her favourite. She is relatively neat about it, and tries to hold her own spoon, with some success. I will need to help her practice that skill, this coming week.

With both parents having to go into their employers’ offices, five days a week, I will shoulder a large part of her upbringing, over the next year or two. So, many milestones will be chronicled here. It is probably going to be the most enjoyable job I’ve ever had.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 5, Day 3

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Education, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Striving

May 24,2026- Hana began her transition to solid food in earnest today, A simple meal of rice porridge accompanied her liquid feedings. She was quite happy about this, and recognizes, on some level, that this puts her on the path to being a bigger child. Food items, pureed of course, will be added gradually, one food at a time, according to a nutritionist’s plan that her mother has adopted.

My granddaughter is generally a cheerful little girl, who laughs easily. She also has a serious side and when she is crawling towards something, she does not like being distracted. She puts her attention on doing a certain task-usually on pressing buttons on an educational toy, to elicit a spoken instruction or a little song, to the tune of which she will kick her legs, even while lying prone. She carefully lifts up a section of her crawling mat, to see what is underneath and examines the tags on a quilt or other fabric.

I want to help her build on both of these aspects of herself-the gregarious and mirthful, as well as the purposeful and focused. All three of us read to her, show her the pictures in the books and have her turn the pages, as much as she is willing to. If she wants to linger on a certain page and absorb the illustrations, that’s okay, too.

There is no day off, or holiday, in raising an infant or toddler. At the same time, it is a labour of joy. A solid human being is in the works. The days fly by; with the sameness of each day’s schedule intertwined with the growth that each new day brings. It’s said that this will all “be over” too soon. Maybe so, but in the interim, I will savour every step forward and every inch grown taller.

The Hana Chronicles: Month Five, Day 1

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

May 22, 2026- This afternoon, we set up a plastic mat as a ramp that covered the small ledge between Hana’s play area and the dining room. She crawled up the ramp, with my bracing her feet and her mother on the other end of the ramp, encouraging her. Hana made it up into the dining room, looking surprised, as she looked down into her play area, then quite happy that we helped her.

Earlier today, she crawled over to the bookshelf in her play space and touch several book spines, babbling insistently, until I took a couple of books out and read them to her. When one of us reads, Hana looks attentively at the pages, and has taken to turning the pages herself and looking through the books.

She will now be slowly introduced to solid (pureed) foods, and watches us very intently as we eat, and how we use utensils. She will be shown how to use the soft rubber spoon, when we begin the feeding schedule (one solid food, for one meal, per day.), starting on Sunday.

Most importantly, her speaking and eye contact are acknowledged and affirmed. Insistent and enunciated babbling can be reasonably interpreted, given attention to body language and where her eyes and body are pointing. When she is acknowledged correctly, her face lights up, so we know we’re on the right track.

This is where we are as a family, five months in.