Wanted: Toddler Handbook for Meals

Life in our house is full of ups and downs. The downs usually involve a temper tantrum or food all over the floor. The ups are an ever-growing list. They happen far too quickly for me to jot down. I do hope I’m remembering them and appreciating them.

Lately, Maximus has been full of life and learning. He’s constantly doing new things. We spend each day trying to teach and mold him into a well-behaved little person. Some days feel like we’re #winning and other days feel like we have no clue what we’re doing.

We’ve been working hard on meals. Specifically, we’re trying to keep milk, forks, spoons, bowls, and plates on the high chair tray. We don’t want them on the floor, where the dog is waiting. And we don’t want to feed the dog who is waiting. It’s starting to feel like we’re making progress. More meals than not involve utensils that stay on the tray…until he’s done eating.

While this feels like a great parental accomplishment, it doesn’t compare to the feeling I get when I watch Maximus use a fork or spoon. It’s amazing to me that in just a few weeks, he went from being basically useless to getting the majority of his food in his mouth. We started with some simple things. Bowls that suction to the tray. Spoons with large scoops. A bib with a lip to catch food. And yogurt that doesn’t need to be scooped so he could figure it out even if he didn’t get any inside the spoon. I was very impressed after his first “session.” He didn’t have nearly as much on his face and his clothes were free of yogurt. It didn’t take long for him to master the scooping and start using his spoon on other foods.

Then we moved on to the fork. We’re still working on it, just as the spoon doesn’t always work out well. But, he knows that you stab the food to get it on the fork. That doesn’t always work and most of the time he ends up using his fingers. But, he’s got the hand-to-mouth thing mastered! 🙂 We still have bad meals and we still have meals where all of the utensils get thrown on the floor. But, Maximus is slowly starting to eat like a big kid!

I know we’ll continue to have ups and downs as Maximus learns how to communicate with us. And we’ll always have ups and downs in the game of parenthood. I hope that the ups continue to outweigh the downs and that we continue to appreciate both as they come at us.