Self-service

In terms of food, the extent of our man's discerning considerations is: mmm, food - sure, I'll eat! Needless to say, we haven't had many struggles with Tavish on the food front so far. This has been extra great because I've been able to make food for him that is nutricious, mostly organic and readily available because I reuse the purchased babyfood jars and fill up the freezer. Handy, well - mostly handy ... until Tavish decides to feed himself.



MOMENT: My turn

Tavish has been self-serving finger food for a very long time (he had the pincer grip mastered early), but the spoon feeding thing didn't garner much interest ... until recently. We always figured that until he requests the spoon, we'd continue to feed him because it is more expedient and the longer he waits, the more dexterity he would have ... or so we hoped.The first real self-serve attempt to spoon feed himself was in Vermont on our way home from Maine - at my friend's place. That's right, not in the comfort of our own home, but rather at a place and time where it wasn't so convenient but oh so cute! He had food everywhere! It was delightful and he was so proud. Fortunately, we were staying with friends who found this new-found independent streak endearing.

Tonight was more of the same, only cuter. We could actually watch the intellectual development before our eyes. He discovered after his first spoon full that tipping the spoon was less-than productive. It was close enough that he may have tasted it - even if it all fell into his handy bib with the scoop. Hmmmm, what to do? Ah yes, first complication averted: just scoop it out of the bib! Success. I was 'helping' by holding the bowl for him until that was impeding his creative freedom. Okay, Mommy stepped aside. Tavish looked at me, looked at his empty spoon then the full bowl ... hmmmm. Then, the ah-ha moment: he picked up the bowl and turned it on it's side and voila - self-service. He worked at it for awhile and although he was technically feeding himself successfully, the arm was eventually raised (help) followed by a finger to his mouth (food) ... we had a pooped self-server! Perhaps all the extra work built up an extra appetite?