Finger food

Here's what William looks like after dinner.



















Not too bad, huh? No, he's not really orange. That's leftover dinner. He still has residual lasagna and green bean stains all over his face, but at least there are no sizable chunks of cracker, cheese or other random food that might have fallen into the pocket of his bib. I figure, we're doing pretty well if there's no visible food in his hair.

Yes, William has arrived at the stage where he wants to feed himself. "No, let me do it, Mommy!" he seems to be saying when he bats my hands away. If he's upset and grousing about his horrible life, nothing cheers him up quicker than the sight of me shaking the box of Cheerios over his high chair tray. Cheerios are the No. 1 best baby food ever, I've decided. If Cheerios had that much power over adults, I think we really would have world peace.

But while it's great that William does want to feed himself and is thus acquiring important skills, it means that feeding him is becoming a much slooooower process. And a messier one. And one that requires some agility on my part. Have you ever tried to maneuver a spoonful of mushy baby food into an active baby's mouth while successfully dodging the active baby's flailing arms and hands while they were trying to stuff Cheerios/pears/animal crackers into his mouth? There's a good reason that William has a huge lasagna stain all over the front of his pants tonight. I won't even get into the small leftover chunks of turkey sticks that were mashed into the seat of the high chair after lunch today.

And I'm forever picking up the Cheerios. Off the floor, out of the highchair, you name it, I've found Cheerios there. I even found one in his diaper the other day. They are his favorite, and no meal is complete without them. I should write fan letter to the Cheerios people. Really. I mean, I knew Mom fed me Cheerios as a kid and that I loved them, and hey, I even still eat them now, but I have all new respect for them now.

Here's a typical day of food in the life of William. Of course, this is all subject to change, as we introduce new foods:

Breakfast: Cheerios on the tray, of course. And a big bowl of oatmeal or mixed cereal with fruit. Usually the fruit is a jar of baby food fruit served with a spoon and a flourish, but sometimes I give him some fruit cocktail out of the can to eat with his hands. Sticky, but satisfying.

Lunch: A starter of fresh Cheerios, drizzled artfully on the high chair tray, always. And until we switched over to Stage 3 baby food a couple of weeks ago, William was usually eating two jars of Stage 2 foods at lunch, or one jar and a container of Yo-baby yogurt. Oh yes, and a couple of Ritz crackers and some cheese. Now it sort of depends. The other day, I gave him a Stage 2 container of green beans, plus a container of blueberry yogurt, but then today, he had half a Stage 3 jar of carrots and beef, plus half a Stage 3 jar of green beans. A couple of days ago, I fed him a veggie chicken jar and half a jar of the Gerber Graduates green beans--they're actual small pieces of green beans, like canned green beans. They're pretty unappetizing, although not as much as the pureed kind. William was underwhelmed. But he did eat them with his fingers. I told him that he'd probably like the fresh, non-mushy kind that his daddy and I eat, but he needs some more teeth before we debut those. Today, I gave him some of the aforementioned turkey sticks, and man, oh man, were those a hit. First, I dutifully cut them into small pieces so he could pick them up and eat them. Then I got lazy, handed him a stick, and said, "Go crazy, Kiddo." And that was the real joy for him. He could make a whole new kind of mess, woohoo!

Dinner: Usually half a jar of Stage 3 veggies and most of a jar of whatever Stage 3 entree I dig out of the cabinet. And no dinner would be complete without, you guessed it, some Cheerios. I am going to try to start serving more finger foods, though, and just resign myself to an uptick in laundry.

He'll basically try anything if it means he gets to eat it with his hands. So far, so good. The only thing that seems to please him more than feeding himself is if he gets to eat some of my food. Guacamole from my chicken fiesta salad proved to be especially popular.

The good doctor says this is all perfectly normal. Er, the William insisting on feeding himself part. (And probably the Cheerios obsession part, for that matter). "This is what they do," he said, commenting on babies William's age who only want to feed themselves. "I'm actually surprised he didn't do it sooner."

Meanwhile, I think I'm going to start wearing an apron when I feed him...or serve him the food that he attempts to feed himself. Might as well try to keep one of us clean, anyway.

By the way, we do clean William up eventually. Here's a quick photo that I took of him after his bath tonight. Note that David's sweater is soaked. Note that William does not seem to be in any danger of starving to death, if his thighs and belly are any indication. And well, it looks like William is still a little peachy-colored. He has a fondness for those sweet potatoes and squash, so he just gives off a nice healthy Vitamin A glow.