Before the little munchkin was born, a friend told me to savor my mealtimes because they would be the last times I really got to enjoy my food without a wailing infant in the background. Gee thanks, you couldn't have also bothered to tell me the kid's mealtimes would be out of control for the foreseeable future too?
No one bothered telling me that. That things get better briefly only to present new challenges around the next corner. At our house, first it was breastfeeding. As in, the kid didn't really want to do it and didn't know how. But it got easier and we seemed to finally be moving right along. But then she started daycare and drinking out of bottles. And suddenly, she didn't want to nurse anymore. I mean, why bother when bottles are much less work. So nursing sessions suddenly became scream fests (you know, me screaming and the kid wailing, or maybe the other way around?). That was a fun period, all kinds of mother-baby bonding at the boob and all that.
We kind of got through that phase but I couldn't wait for us to start solids just to make things easier. I was tired of pumping, and I just never produced milk the same way after she stopped nursing regularly. It was always a struggle to keep up with her bottle intake. So the 6 month mark came along, and I was ready with a bowl full of mashed avocados mixed in with the familiar taste of breastmilk. Delicious, right? Who wouldn't love it?
Well, clearly my kid. Diya didn't like solids. Not when she was 6 months or 7 or even 8. Then all of a sudden, she started loving EVERYTHING and we couldn't keep her from putting everything in her mouth (including every random kernel/piece of dust on the floor). And somewhere in there, she started to tolerate nursing again, so I figured we had it made.
Except now we've entered new territory. She still loves to eat but wants to feed herself. Which is fine except that she doesn't really know how to eat with a spoon yet. Sometimes, she manages it with help, but most of the time, my attempts to help result in screaming (again, me/her, who the heck knows). So I leave her to it and suddenly, 2 seconds later, we have a big pile of blueberry mush all over the table and floor.
My response so far has been to forget the spoon altogether and focus on foods she can pick up with her fingers. Lately, she's been able to eat what we eat, so I come home and try to either cook dinner quickly or make her a small version of whatever we'll be having later. A while back, I made a Thai curry with veggies and tofu. And it worked out beautifully. First I cooked up the tofu and gave her some while I was chopping up veggies. She stuffed them into her mouth (to the point where I think she didn't know what to do with them all) and still had room for some cooked vegetables after. It seemed like such a productive way to handle it -- she got to take all the time she needed, I wasn't sitting around waiting for her to finish. I brought all my veggies to the dining room table where she was eating, so I could keep her company (and from choking on her tofu). Win/win for everyone.
Sounds great, right? Except then, we ran into another snag. Diya's realized that it's fun to eat her food, but it's even MORE fun to feed it to the dogs. So now, instead of finger foods being my savior, I'm not entirely sure what to do. I spend lots of mornings watching her take each piece of egg and holding it down into Mia's face. Mia likes to gobble straight out of her hands. They're a bit of a tag team now too. I'll walk away to bring more food or something, and I'll suddenly see the two of them at it. When I say something, both look at me, kind of guiltily but then the kid actually starts giggling. She thinks this is funny.
What's extra fun is that dog feeding is interspersed with self feeding, so the kid's hands are covered in dog slobber when she'll suddenly decide to take another bite herself. Awesome. And somehow, I think she's realized that she needs to treat the dogs equally. Cuz she'll make sure to drop food over on the other side to Tucker also.
So then my newest technique was to keep the kid distracted and just feed her myself. That worked pretty well actually. Until daycare lectured us this week on not reinforcing the skills they taught at home. I guess instead of feeding herself with the spoon on Mon, Diya just sat there and waited for the teacher to feed her. So basically, she totally ratted us out, the little turd.
So we're back to dog feeding and self spoon feeding and kitchen generally looking like an earthquake hit it after each meal. On the plus side, the kid's not terrible at eating with a spoon. Also, her favorite food? Avocado.
No one bothered telling me that. That things get better briefly only to present new challenges around the next corner. At our house, first it was breastfeeding. As in, the kid didn't really want to do it and didn't know how. But it got easier and we seemed to finally be moving right along. But then she started daycare and drinking out of bottles. And suddenly, she didn't want to nurse anymore. I mean, why bother when bottles are much less work. So nursing sessions suddenly became scream fests (you know, me screaming and the kid wailing, or maybe the other way around?). That was a fun period, all kinds of mother-baby bonding at the boob and all that.
We kind of got through that phase but I couldn't wait for us to start solids just to make things easier. I was tired of pumping, and I just never produced milk the same way after she stopped nursing regularly. It was always a struggle to keep up with her bottle intake. So the 6 month mark came along, and I was ready with a bowl full of mashed avocados mixed in with the familiar taste of breastmilk. Delicious, right? Who wouldn't love it?
Well, clearly my kid. Diya didn't like solids. Not when she was 6 months or 7 or even 8. Then all of a sudden, she started loving EVERYTHING and we couldn't keep her from putting everything in her mouth (including every random kernel/piece of dust on the floor). And somewhere in there, she started to tolerate nursing again, so I figured we had it made.
Except now we've entered new territory. She still loves to eat but wants to feed herself. Which is fine except that she doesn't really know how to eat with a spoon yet. Sometimes, she manages it with help, but most of the time, my attempts to help result in screaming (again, me/her, who the heck knows). So I leave her to it and suddenly, 2 seconds later, we have a big pile of blueberry mush all over the table and floor.
My response so far has been to forget the spoon altogether and focus on foods she can pick up with her fingers. Lately, she's been able to eat what we eat, so I come home and try to either cook dinner quickly or make her a small version of whatever we'll be having later. A while back, I made a Thai curry with veggies and tofu. And it worked out beautifully. First I cooked up the tofu and gave her some while I was chopping up veggies. She stuffed them into her mouth (to the point where I think she didn't know what to do with them all) and still had room for some cooked vegetables after. It seemed like such a productive way to handle it -- she got to take all the time she needed, I wasn't sitting around waiting for her to finish. I brought all my veggies to the dining room table where she was eating, so I could keep her company (and from choking on her tofu). Win/win for everyone.
Sounds great, right? Except then, we ran into another snag. Diya's realized that it's fun to eat her food, but it's even MORE fun to feed it to the dogs. So now, instead of finger foods being my savior, I'm not entirely sure what to do. I spend lots of mornings watching her take each piece of egg and holding it down into Mia's face. Mia likes to gobble straight out of her hands. They're a bit of a tag team now too. I'll walk away to bring more food or something, and I'll suddenly see the two of them at it. When I say something, both look at me, kind of guiltily but then the kid actually starts giggling. She thinks this is funny.
What's extra fun is that dog feeding is interspersed with self feeding, so the kid's hands are covered in dog slobber when she'll suddenly decide to take another bite herself. Awesome. And somehow, I think she's realized that she needs to treat the dogs equally. Cuz she'll make sure to drop food over on the other side to Tucker also.
So then my newest technique was to keep the kid distracted and just feed her myself. That worked pretty well actually. Until daycare lectured us this week on not reinforcing the skills they taught at home. I guess instead of feeding herself with the spoon on Mon, Diya just sat there and waited for the teacher to feed her. So basically, she totally ratted us out, the little turd.
So we're back to dog feeding and self spoon feeding and kitchen generally looking like an earthquake hit it after each meal. On the plus side, the kid's not terrible at eating with a spoon. Also, her favorite food? Avocado.
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