Another Mii-Mii Morning

This morning went the way that three out of five of our weekday mornings go. When I asked what Eli wanted for breakfast, first he said noodles(?). I've actually tried to give him noodles for breakfast just to see, and he won't eat them. When I said what I always do, that we don't have noodles for breakfast he said Mii-Miis! FYI, Mii-Miis are pronounced with the long "e", like the Nintendo Wii. He LOVES to help me make the pancakes, and even though I already had at least one full serving of pancakes from yesterday in the fridge ready to be reheated in the oven(thanks for the tip Ah-Yah!), he loves the measuring out and mixing part so much that I figured we'd save those pancakes, along with today's extras for the weekend. So, he climbed up on his stool and helped me measure out the ingredients and stir them together. Unfortunately, I'll have to include pictures of him measuring and dumping later, as I'll have to wait for Daddy to take the picture since I don't trust him with the ingredients himself.

Pancakes and bacon have been Eli's favorite meal for some time now. Noodles come in second, but noodles, as with other meals, are not a guaranteed hit. On the other hand, he will always fill up on pancakes and bacon. Pancakes and bacon are such a favorite that we fixed them (probably to our guests chagrine!) for Eli's second birthday party dinner. Bacon was one of his first favorite foods, we used to joke that it was bacon gum. Eli was not too interested in most solid food until he was about a year old, but starting from about eight months or so, he would always give bacon a shot. He was never a great swallower, he seems to have inherited Dendi and his Daddy's gag reflex, so we would find the bacon in his cheek hours later! When he finally started eating solid food, we realized quickly that pancakes were a great accompaniment. Honestly, left to his own devices, he might just eat bacon for breakfast. So, very quickly we realized that we had to keep the bacon out of sight while he ate some pancakes first. So funny, because now sometimes if I try to give him bacon first, he says, "No, mii-miis first, then bake-bake." By the way, I have NO IDEA why Mii-Miis equal pancakes. The only thing I can figure was that when he first tried to say their name he was calling almost anything with two syllable Mii-Mii. I guess it stuck. But, this morning, maybe for the first time, he was actually trying to say bacon, not "bake-bake." *Note -- all you health-nut, hippy nerds, like me, will be happy to hear that the pancakes are whole wheat buttermilk blueberry pancakes, made from scratch out of mostly organic ingredients. And, the bacon is center cut (less fat) nitrate, nitrite free.

Something to notice about these pictures is that Eli's not sitting in his high chair. He's graduated to his booster seat at the table. Although, if you talk to him, don't make too big of a deal about "what a big boy he is!", or he'll firmly remind you that he's still a baby, and a little bit big boy, like he reminded me this morning. I guess that's pretty accurate, but funny. I don't think I've ever heard of another toddler who didn't want to be a "big boy." Another thing that we've introduced at the table is Eli having his own napkin. We're trying to encourage him to use the napkin rather than the table or my arm to clean his hands --it's a work in progress!