Peas, pears, and you must be joking

Baby Mac, at just over five months, eats food now. Real food. Well, real baby food. Gramma—that's me—was fortunate to witness a recent feeding.

His fine dining experience started with peas:

They're not too bad, Gramma.

The second course featured the yummiest of yums, a.k.a. pears:

Oh, yeah.

These ... are ...... the BEST!Then Mom offered a finale of none other than—you guessed it—rice cereal:

You're joking, right?Um, I won't be swallowing this, Gramma.Seriously.Baby Mac did eventually swallow his rice cereal. Or, at least most of it.

Which is far better than his brother, Mr. Skinny Minny Boney Maroney Bubby, currently does with most of his food.

At this rate, the big brother title will soon belong to the younger of the two.

Today's question:

What food would you like to try for the very first time?

MLB, NBA, PGA ... or MLE?

I just gotta say, Bubby is a pretty talented kid. At two years old, he already shows an affinity for sports. He's got a bright future ahead of him, with Dad and Mom figuring the pros will soon be checking him out; recruiters covet left-handers, be it baseball, basketball, golf, and a left-hander my Bubby is.

I say forget the MLB, NBA and PGA, though, because from the looks of things, Bubby just may be in line to be a champion of the MLE. That's Major League Eating, and it's for real.

The MLE recently staged another championship event, with Sunday's Coney Island Fourth of July hot dog eating contest. (That's a link to ESPN, folks. See ... it's a real sport!) Stars of the MLE were there, as was the infamous MLE-resistant renegade: six-time hot-dog eating champ Takeru Kobayashi.

This grandma thinks Kobayashi and all the other championship gobblers better watch their backs as Bubby's gearing up for come pretty serious action. Although Bubby certainly won't be in line to win the title of championship hot-dog eater -- it's hard to practice for that event when Mom (and Grandma!) demand the dogs be sliced and diced before ingesting to prevent choking -- there are a few categories in which Bubby's already hitting it hard.

For starters, Bubby has quite an advantage in the popsicle category, with recent hours under his belt in both the Homemade Popsicle category ...

as well as the Slow-Melt Popsicle category ...

He's becoming quite proficient in the Birthday Cake category, too, with two years of winning rounds to his name ...

Also in the Baked Goods division is the Krispy Kreme Donut category, of which Bubby had his first taste on Grandma's birthday (did you all know Krispy Kreme gives you a FREE dozen donuts on your birthday?) ...

One of Bubby's newest competitive categories is the Bacon & Eggs division. This one he practices with Grandma's version of bacon and eggs, recipe courtesy of Grilled Grandma Judy:

Speaking of sweets, the Sweets category is Bubby's favorite, with the Longest Time Spent With A Pop-Ring Sucker award easily snatched up by Bubby during his recent Splash Pad birthday party:

There's always the chance, of course, that some other food champ will out eat Bubby. But there's one category Bubby definitely dominates, one which no other MLE member can ever take away from him. That would be, without a doubt, the category of Most Adorable Eater Ever!

Today's question:

If you were to be named a Championship Eater, what food would you be the champion of?

My answer: Guacamole! I can eat it anytime, anywhere, any amount. I love guacamole!

Distance from Grandma a good thing? Maybe ...

Here's yet another reason why Bubby is probably better off with me being a long-distance grandma rather than us living within close proximity of one another.

(Wait ... I don't recall there ever being previous reasons why he's better off with me living 819 miles away. Oh well ...)

Anyway, a recent study shows that children whose grandparents serve as their primary daycare providers are more likely to be overweight than kids in other daycare situations. And not by just a smidgen. Those wee ones watched by Grandma and Grandpa full time had a 34 percent increased risk of being overweight. That's THIRTY FOUR percent.

I can so understand why that is, though. I love watching Bubby eat. I love giving him food that he loves to eat. I love taking pictures of him eating. My favorite video of Bubby is one in which he learned to say "Mmmm..." -- over and over again as he ate food Grandma fixed just for him.

If I were Bubby's daycare provider, man oh man would that kiddo get to eat some yummy stuff. All day long. There'd be snow ice cream in the winter, root beer floats in the summer, macaroni and cheese for each and every meal -- if he wanted it for each and every meal; if not, I'd make him anything else he requested.

Oh, and there'd be ketchup. Lots and lots of ketchup. Bubby loves ketchup!

So yeah, it's probably a good thing Bubby lives in the desert and I live in the mountains and rarely the twain shall meet.

But we will be meeting this weekend. And I've got five full days to plump up my Bubby's skinny little legs.

Don't tell Megan, but I've already stocked up on ketchup ... and the fixins for macaroni and cheese ... and baked up a few loaves of banana bread ... and a couple dozen chocolate chip cookies ...

Today's question:

What was your favorite food as a kid?

My answer: Macaroni and cheese. Definitely. Oh, and homemade mashed potatoes. I still love the two more than just about anything else. (As long as the macaroni and cheese isn't made with that powdery cheese from a package!)

A healthy appetite

Bubby loves to eat. And in going through my photos looking for blog pictures, it's obvious that I love to take pictures of him eating.

I could analyze the reasons I take lots of photos of him eating (I'm sure it has something to do with me showing my love for others through food!) but that's not as fun as sharing a few of my favorites of him enjoying his vittles.

Bon appetit!

Mmm, mmm, good!

I can't wait 'til he can eat some yummy stuff made by Grandma.