portable snacks for hungry tots

Ruby is finally starting to get into foods in a big way. Up until very recently, she was still getting close to 100 percent of her actual nutrition through breast milk, but she is finally starting to see the pleasures of trying new foods (we've been "feeding" her other things since she was little, but she is such a nurse-a-holic that she just has never been all that interested). Now, she will try just about anything. Her favorite foods currently include: bananas (she alternates between wanting to take bites from the whole banana or wanting you to mash it up for her), hummus, homemade ricotta souffles, rice pudding, shredded cheese, peaches from the farmers' markets, puffed rice (we won't let her have Rice Krispies cereal, which she got to try the other day at a hotel we were staying at and loved, because they have HFCS, but we got her a bag of natural puffed rice that she likes just the same), and, of course, snacks, snacks, and more snacks!

Ruby is obsessed with HAPPYBABY organic puffs...P-u-f-f-s is the first word we've had to start spelling out around her so she doesn't get too over-excited. She points to our hiding places and makes a little noise that sounds like "oo-wah!" to tell us that she wants them. They are expensive at the little grocery stores in my neighborhood, but you can buy them in bulk (6 canisters at a time) at amazon.com.

I just found a new easy snack at a natural foods store while on vacation that is just as portable and Ruby loves just as much. Plum Organics "fruity fingerfuls" for tots. It's organic freeze-dried fruits and grain bites (in the shape of hearts). It comes with strawberry, banana, or apple fruit pieces. The packaging is BPA-free, too. It's funny to watch Ruby go for the heart-shaped grain pieces in her bowl and then reluctantly resort to the fruit bits once the grain is all gone! I haven't seen this brand in the little grocery stores in my neighborhood, so I was excited to find them in bulk from amazon.com.