When you move past purees and on to the world of finger foods or toddler food it’s really not that much different than adult food, except toddlers are, for the most part, picky and unable to tell you exactly what they want. Not to mention, they are messy. They are very, very messy.  And since you’re not the one wielding the spoon anymore, it makes for quite a lovely scene at the table. I will confess that I only allow my son to eat particularly messy meals, like spaghetti, on bath nights.

Toddler food threw me for a loop. I went from being the Betty Crocker of making breast milk and purees, right back to realizing that I kind of suck at cooking. It was pretty easy to get sucked into the trap known as the “Frozen Bag of Chicken Nuggets.”  It was easy to get stuck in quite a few traps, actually. Before I knew it, my once wholesomely, naturally fed son, was now living off of hot dogs, processed chicken nuggets, Goldfish crackers, and the occasional quesadilla. I will say he maintained his love for a lot of fruits and vegetables, though, which I mainly got from a frozen bag or a can.

Then a couple important events took place. First, I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Greene speak at a Metro Moms event in Dallas. I came home with an autographed copy of Feeding Baby Green, and a renewed interest in what I was feeding my son. I was reminded how well I’d done in the past, laying the groundwork for a healthy eater throughout pregnancy, breastfeeding and first foods. I didn’t want to see all of that go to waste, so I committed myself to trying harder, to taking the time to really think about what I was exposing my son to and the implications that may have down the road.

Shortly after, I began listening to The Omnivore’s Dilemma on audio book by Michael Pollan. I don’t have the time or the word count here to give you a review of the book, but I will say it was profoundly life changing, and I will never look at a processed chicken nugget the same way again. Heck, I’ll never look at chicken the same way again. I found this recipe for homemade chicken nuggets that even manages to hide some veggies in them, and I’m happy to report I’ve made several batches that my son gobbles up just as quickly as those from the freezer case. I make them with mostly organic ingredients, and, inspired by Pollan, am hoping to switch to LOCAL, responsibly raised ingredients soon.  It’s not that Dr. Greene and Michael Pollan made me a better cook. I’m still pretty crappy at it, but at least I’m trying to do the little things I can.

Just like all the other small steps we’ve taken over the last two and a half years to become more eco-friendly and a positive impact on our local environment, I’ll continue to take baby steps, learn new recipes and seek out better sources of local food until we are eating better as a family. One day I’ll realize that I’m not working at it anymore, that it’s just our way of life, and my children will come by it naturally.

I’m not Julia Child. My cooking doesn’t even compare to a frozen Sara Lee. The vast majority of what I cook is heated in the microwave. But, let me tell you, I am a rock star, domestic goddess when it comes to making baby food.

I exclusively breastfed my son for the first six months of his life, and there was something particularly empowering about knowing I was solely responsible for making his food. I wanted to continue that on through his first foods experience. Despite my initial hesitations and apprehensions, making baby food is a cinch. And don’t be fooled into thinking you need expensive or fancy equipment to do it, either.

All I needed was a few ice cube trays, some freezer bags, a small food processor, and a pot with a steaming basket. I also used my microwave for a few things, like sweet potatoes.

There are several websites out there with great ideas for simple baby food recipes. My favorite is WholesomeBabyFood.com.  This website really breaks every step of the process down for you, from how to make a variety of pureed fruits, veggies, and even meats, to what reactions to be on the lookout for.

Yes, it’s a time consuming process, but it doesn’t have to be burdensome if you plan ahead. I ended up only having to make big batches of baby food once every three weeks. I would begin by shopping the organic and local produce at a nearby market. I would pick about 4 or 5 fruits or veggies to make, based on what was in season and what I wanted to expose my son to next (we had a GREAT time exploring the rainbow of the produce aisle during those months). Then, usually on a Sunday, I would kick everyone out of the kitchen for a couple hours, put on some good music, and get busy washing, cutting, steaming, pureeing, partitioning and freezing. It really was a simple routine once I got it down.

Certain fruits, like bananas and avocados, didn’t need to be prepared in advance. I was able to peel them right before serving and mash them with a fork, sometimes adding a little breast milk to thin the consistency.

After a few months making baby food, I was not only proud of myself for navigating the kitchen as well as I had, but also for being able to say that I was still the one solely responsible for what my baby was eating.

I’m just going to say this now. To those of you who are unfamiliar with the world of cloth diapering it can be very overwhelming and confusing in the beginning. There are all sorts of abbreviations and acronyms and there is no one right way to do it. Every family finds their own system that works for them eventually, but getting started can feel like learning a new language.

These are the basic types of cloth diapers:
Prefolds- those big squares of fabric most of us think of when we think cloth diapers. They can be folded in a variety of ways, and they need a cover to go over them.

Fitteds- these look like, and go on and off very similarly to a disposable diaper (some fastened by Velcro, some by snaps), but they are made of cloth and also need a separate cover to go over them. Often they are made of hemp, cotton or bamboo velour.

Pockets- these look like, and go on and come off just like a disposable diaper, too. They do not need a cover. Think of them as a waterproof shell that is stuffed with absorbent inserts. There are two pieces to this diaper. You remove the insert, wash it along with the cover, and then re-stuff it before using it. (All-In-Twos are a sort of subset of pocket diapers that sometimes offer the option of using disposable/compostable inserts with a waterproof cover.)

All In Ones (AIOs) – these are the closest thing you’ll get to the simplicity of a disposable diaper. There is no need to stuff anything in them, and they don’t need a cover.  Conversely, they take a while to dry, and it’s hard to adjust their absorbency.

Within each of these categories, some are one size fits most and some are sized for each stage of growth.

We started out using newborn sized fitteds by Kissaluvs with covers, and then we transitioned into mostly pocket diapers by Bum Genius when our son was 10 weeks old and a chunky monkey with walrus rolls up and down his legs. He’s 20 months old now, and we’re still using the same pocket diapers since they’ve grown with him.

When he was exclusively breastfed we just threw the whole diaper, poop and all, into the plastic step-lid trashcan, lined with a special bag, called a “wet bag”. I know that sounds like a stink bomb waiting to happen, but it never smelled. Never. Now that he’s eating solids and long gone are the days of mild smelling, water-soluble breast milk poop, we use flushable liners to flush his poop down the toilet before tossing the diapers in the pail.

The diapers are washed every 2 or 3 days, starting with a cold rinse, followed by a hot wash and a second cold rinse. We use Charlie’s Soap on all our laundry. It’s cloth diaper friendly, meaning it’s not going to build up on the diapers, making them repel liquid, instead of soaking it up.

When we leave the house I take a small, zippered wet bag with me and use it to keep soiled diapers in. Again, I know you’re thinking “Yuck!” I swear, it doesn’t smell.  We use cloth wipes, which are just thin washcloths, and we wash them right along with the diapers.

To read more about the specifics of our cloth diaper routine, and for a more comprehensive list of resources, check out my blog post “Cloth Diapering- the specifics”.

I was introduced to modern cloth diapering early in my pregnancy. I don’t recall exactly how, but one night I stumbled upon a website with a laundry list of links to online stores who sold the cutest little poop collectors I’d ever seen. Yes, admittedly my love for cloth diapers originally grew from their cuteness factor.

Regardless of what initially drew me to them, I quickly learned all about how easy these modern versions were, how different they were from the cloth origami our parents had to fuss with, how we didn’t have to deal with treacherous diaper pins anymore. I learned how there was no need for a nasty pail full of water and filthy diapers sitting around, and how it wasn’t even necessary to dunk them in the toilet before washing them. All of my preconceived notions about cloth diapers dissipated after one night, a glass of wine, and a long, informative date with Google.

I presented the idea to my husband the next day. Without so much as a catch in his voice, a single moment of hesitation, he swiftly replied, “Sure! Let’s do it.” I have to say, I think what initially drew him to them was the cost factor. Based on very rough calculations I’d done the night before, I figured we could save at least $1,500 with just one kid in cloth diapers, and that was taking into account the cost of purchasing the cute, functional, easy to use cloth diapers I had my eye on.

Not that we needed much more to sell us on the idea, but just thinking of the ecological impact of keeping thousands of disposable diapers out of landfills over the next few years was quite rewarding and exciting.  I was also thrilled to know that my son wouldn’t be sitting in chemicals that research has shown to raise scrotal temperature and possibly “blunt or completely abolish the physiological testicular cooling mechanism important for normal spermatogenesis.” (According to the Archives of Disease in Childhood, May 2000)

I wrote, at great length, more about our decision to cloth diaper on my blog in my post “Yes, I Use Cloth Diapers. No, I Don’t Wear Birkenstocks.”

We didn’t set out to be “these” people.  Three years ago my husband and I were living a blissful urban lifestyle. Shopping was our favorite pastime.  We loved driving around in our brand new SUV with a V8 Hemi engine, which is auto-jargon for “This is really excessive unless you plan on hauling livestock or U-Hauls every day.” Yeah, yeah, we’d heard about living simply and going green. We swore we would try it eventually, but our apartment complex didn’t offer recycling pick up, so we’d have to put it off until we moved.

Two and a half years ago we learned I was pregnant with our first child. Two and a half years ago our paradigm shifted. Our world grew beyond just the two of us. My body became an incubator that I was solely responsible for maintaining and keeping in the best working order possible. As trite and cliché as it sounds, it wasn’t about “us” anymore. Everything from the food I ate to the chemicals I was exposed to became increasingly important to us, and continue to be now that our son has entered the world.

Throughout the last two and a half years we’ve slowly morphed into the people we are today- the recycling, reducing, reusing, cloth diapering, local and organic food eating, baby and toddler food making parents we never imagined we would be three years ago.  Our journey is not over, and I’m sure we are not the people today who we will be tomorrow. We are not the “perfect” eco-friendly family. We still drive that SUV. On the outside, I don’t think our appearance or demeanor shouts “HIPPY!” as some may think of us once they find out how much we strive to do to live a healthy, eco-conscious lifestyle.

But, see, that’s where people trip themselves up when it comes to living more natural and healthy lives. They think to themselves, “But I’m not that TYPE of person. I’m not the person who uses disgusting cloth diapers! I don’t have the time to care about where my family’s food comes from. I am busy, and I am not a hippy.” I know this because this very thought probably passed through my own mind three years ago.

It’s not about the “type” of person you picture yourself to be. It’s not about your political or religious views, even. It’s about taking a few minutes to educate yourself, to really THINK about the decisions you are making daily and then making a small effort (yes, many times the effort can be small) to change a few at a time. It’s not an all or nothing situation. You don’t have to magically transform into a yogurt making, composting…hippy.  Heck, I don’t even care if you call yourself “green” or not.  Just pick a few small changes you can make (or one big one), toss aside your preconceived notions, and then call yourself smarter and healthier.