Day One of Messy Fun

Many people may not believe that we would let Brenden feed himself, no matter how messy he might get. We are always at the ready with baby wipes or paper towels to catch any little sticky bit that may make its way to his face or hair. But after realizing that we were really holding him back, we let him get as messy as he liked, as long as it meant he was eating. Wow...he took complete advantage of this freedom.

Breakfast is always cereal of some kind, be it oatmeal or rice cereal. Its the most messy of all of his meals by far, but I was determined that he would feed himself no matter what. I sat the bowl down in front of him, handed him a spoon, and sat back. The first few bites made it to his mouth on the spoon, but after he realized I wasn't going to stop him if he wanted to stick his hands in he dove in. The spoon was promptly forgotten as he smeared it all over his hands, face and even his pants. The mess didn't take as long to clean as I expected, although I didn't get him as clean as I usually do. Oh well...a little dried oatmeal in the hair never hurt anyone.

I'd rather use my hands, thanks.

Lunch didn't scare me as much. He has been feeding himself his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a little while now, but for some reason he has decided he's not that big of a fan anymore. (I think a few grilled cheeses from grandma did that.) Instead, Tim thought some macaroni and cheese might hit the spot, and he was right. After giving up on the plastic toddler fork, Brenden fed himself every last noodle on his plate.

A mouthful of mac and cheese.

For dinner I wanted to give him a treat...chicken fingers! I thought for sure that he would be super excited and shove them all in his mouth at once. Surprisingly, he was completely uninterested in both the chicken and the carrots, which we know he loves. We kept trying to bride him, even fed him a few of the pieces ourselves, but he was just not having it. Eventually, we took the plate away and left a few pieces on his tray. We walked away for a second to get our own plates ready and when we got back the leftover carrots and chicken were gone. Apparently our son doesn't like the plate! If all it takes is removing the plate then I think we can handle that. He finished off his dinner with some mandarin oranges, which he fed himself since they were allowed to roam freely on his tray.

Three messy meals later and day one of this project was over. I thought for sure he wouldn't let us feed him when it came time for his snacks but he had no problem sitting in my lap and being fed. Someday we'll let him at that, too, but for now breakfast, lunch and dinner are a great step!