table manners

I realize it's a little late in the game to be teaching a little boy table manners, but better late than never. Right?

Over the months, we've been letting a lot of little things slide when it came to his eating habits, and they've gradually developed into some rather unacceptable behavior. Typically at meal or snack time, we (the parents) would set his food on the bare table in front of him like when he was in a high chair, sometimes in a bowl, and he would eat with his hands. When he got bored with that he'd smear it around and throw it on the floor, we'd get after him and move on to whatever else was on the menue. He was also constantly grazing, especially since he learned that if he said the word "bite" (which he is very good at now) and hovered around the refrigerator or cupboards, he was likely to get something to munch on. His favorite treats are pickles ("poo-koo") and olives ("ouv"). Go figure, the two foods I can't stand. Also crackers ("ka-kah"), which consist of Ritz, saltines, and graham, as well as chips, and pretzels.

When it came to drinks, no matter what you gave him and in what kind of cup, he was guaranteed to make a mess unless constantly monitored. A simply cup with a lid and straw would be tipped upside-down and shaken until all the contents were on the table (or floor and couch, if he was portable). Sometimes he'd figure out how to pop the lid off entirely so he could drink like a big boy, and that was an even bigger disaster. When we switched to spill-proof cups, he found a sneaky, more creative way - he'd drink the milk/juice/water/smoothie and then promptly spit it back out, down his clothes, onto the table, into a cup... Needless to say, I've been doing a lot of mopping.




It certainly doesn't help that his favorite game is to move things from one container to another, over and over again. This includes toys, food, and yes, liquids - hence, the origin of most of his messes. I realize that's part of babydom: playing with whatever's in the arsenal, exploring different possibilities, and repet, repeat, repeat. The part that I'm not okay with is him thinking he can waste food and give me so much extra work cleaning up and trying to figure out what else to feed him, because when he's begging for food or drink an hour later, I have very little sympathy for him. Just enough to do my best to accomodate him, which I'm sure is why he knows his scheming works, and he has me in the palm of his little chubby hands.

So we're trying something different. Plates! and silverware! This way he can feel like he's independant and see what he's expected to eat, and we can see what he actually has eaten instead of trying to judge based on how much food is on the floor. This was one thing I dislike most about our old methods - not knowing if he'd had enough to eat or not. Sometimes at the end of the day, I'd ask myself "What has he really eaten today?" What do you do when a kid refuses everything you offer him? You put your foot down and just let him learn his lesson? Well I guess we'll give it a try.



(Our secret for getting Caleb to smile for posed shots is to ask him "Where are your teeth?"... which is why we get a lot of cheesey -looking grins like this. Some of them look more natural than others.)



Things have been going a little more smoothly since we started this method, but he still has trouble using a fork and spoon (though he insists on trying and won't hardly eat with his hands anymore), he tries to be like Daddy and stab at his food (which never works), and he has a tendancy to flip his plate clean over.



In the last month or so, we've been experimenting with wheat and oatmeal (we used to avoid feeding him either because he used to have a really bad rash, and they seemed to be related), and it turns out he's not allergic to either. Hallelujah! It makes it SO much easier to pick out foods for him, especially since he can usually just eat a little of what Mommy and Daddy are eating instead of us having to make him something special.

Here's our little man eating his first real PB&J. He has something against certain kinds of foods, and for whatever reason, sandwhiches seem to fall under that category. He wouldn't even consider eating it until I smeared some jam on his lip and he realized the contents of that sandwhich were delicious, and even then he only ate part of it. He kept trying to "share" with me. He's actually really good at sharing, especially when it comes to fruit snacks :).

About once a month, without any warning, he gets bored with his go-to foods, the ones we feed him pretty much every day because we know he'll eat them, and we have to think of something else to give him. At the moments, string cheese, turkey dogs, crackers, anything mushy, and pretty much all fruit has just expired (vegetables went a while ago), so we're being forced to get creative.

Last night, after a very necessary trip to Golden Corral, where they're sure to have something Caleb will eat, we got a few things for him that I think will be instant favorites. I'm especially excited about the Fruit-Fusion juice (100% veggie and fruit juice), and especially the enriched vegetable wacky noodles. We'll see how he likes those. Luckily, I think I can count on a few things a little longer, like cereals and sweet potato fries, and he still likes milk. And at least I can HOPE that these eating habits of his are going to get better.