Holidays, here we come!

Today I picked up some pears for our Thanksgiving Pear Pie and I have a batch of hemp seed butter in the fridge to make into mock-peanut butter cookies. I also bought a box of candy canes that are just corn starch and peppermint extract and corn syrup (oh so healthy! hahaha) and I plan on trialling those and turn them into peppermint fudge (by melting them with homemade sweetened condensed hemp or coconut milk).

We will be busy baking for the holidays and making feeble attempts at cleaning ;). I can't wait to decorate! But the holidays bring on a little pressure for new food trials and since we are still in food limbo, I am antsy. We have candy canes, marshmallows (made with tilapia gelatin rather than beef or pork gelatin!!), and chocolate (allergen free) to trial in addition to our "real" foods-- rutabagas, papaya, beets, millet, and maybe, just maybe, tangerines! (I really want to put a Christmas "orange" in her stocking--- it is a family tradition!!!) We are also looking at trialling raspberries, strawberries and/or blackberries. And in order to make this stinkin' yogurt thicken, I think I may have to start a trial of tapioca, as I have heard of others having success with this. And if you've done the math, there is NO WAY this will all be trialled before Christmas or the new year, but we have big aspirations. I really want her diet to be nutritionally sound enough for her to be able to eat without needing breast milk or formula as her primary nutrient source by her second birthday, only 4 months away! I know it wouldn't be the end of the world if she had to go on formula, but I am so happy that she has been able to nurse for so long and so successfully, and I really don't want her to have to rely on formula when I have doubts that she will even like it, let alone drink it (She still only drinks coconut milk and water from a sippy-- nothing else, not even breast milk!)

The plan is still to begin weaning at 2 but I may chicken out. . . how can I take away the one thing that has really helped her to SURVIVE through all of this and has been such a huge comfort, if she isn't able to have a "just foods" diet?