Mealtimes can be such a rollercoaster of emotions! Happy, sad, frustrating, hilarious...
Don't get me wrong, Luke is an excellent eater - not too picky at all. He likes a wide variety of foods and even enjoys trying new things. So, my complaint is not with the intake of food, but the method of feeding.
I'm talking about the use of utensils. More specifically, Luke using his own utensils.
I hate to admit it, but I've been a slacker at teaching him how to feed himself with utensils. He does great using his fingers and things just get SO MESSY with utensils (I realize how funny that sounds... things are messier with utensils than fingers - but with fingers the food goes right from hand to mouth, with utensils, food gets thrown all over the kitchen).
He tries really hard to use his spoon and he totally knows that he needs to scoop food from his plate and put the spoon in his mouth. He goes through the motions and usually manages not to get anything on the spoon. If he does actually get a few peas on there, the motion from "scoop" to "insert in mouth" will somehow be accompanied by a "flip" and he'll turn the spoon over (dumping out its contents) before it arrives safely in his mouth.
I know what you are thinking... try something that sticks to the spoon a little better - maybe oatmeal or yogurt. Well, done and done. True, he does manage to get a few tastes of oatmeal in his mouth, but the entire area will inevitably get covered with sticky goo as well - tray, bib, table, floor, me, him (not ideal when trying to get out the door in a timely manner during the week!). :)
I do want him to get in some practice with the spoon, but more than that, I want him to actually eat his meal! After 15 minutes of him feeding himself, not only is the kitchen a disaster, but my boy is still hungry!
I suppose it is sweet to watch him try so hard, but for some reason it is so frustrating for me sometimes. I just want to reach over and say "no, you are doing it all wrong... THIS is how you do it". Isn't that terrible?! Deep breath... patience....
So, I've been working hard on trying to relax and let him figure out utensils and new eating methods. That's right, I looked the other way when he threw a spoonful of oatmeal on the floor. I just smiled when he put pieces of buttered toast (butter side down) in his hair. I bit my tongue and just grabbed the cleaning wipes when pushed his entire plate of food off of the tray while chasing around corn kernels with his fork. He's trying. And that is good.
I think he's starting to make a little bit of improvement. He had some oatmeal the other morning and did a pretty good job with it. He was able to get a couple of really good scoops to stick on the spoon and make it into his mouth. Sometimes at dinner he'll let me assist by putting some food on the fork for him, then he'll take it from my hand and put it in his mouth. Other times he'll get frustrated, scream, and throw the fork behind his chair. Hey, nobody is perfect, right?
I don't have any recent "eating" photos to accompany this topic, so here are just some pics of the little guy playing:
