By Mommy

After weeks of coaxing, cajoling and contemplating, Rowan finally ate something by himself!  Mommy was getting a little desperate since he can’t advance at the daycare without that skill, so the past week was spent on intense hand to mouth lessons involving more tears than you can imagine.  (Rowan was a little upset too.)*

But last night Rowan came home very hungry, so I immediately put him in his high chair and spoon-fed him something he wouldn’t have to chew.  With the hunger beast at bay, I next brought out chickpeas which I finger-fed to him.  Then came the strawberries which he absolutely loved.  After that was some yogi, but rather than just spoon-feeding him, I held the spoon by the very end and just out of mouth’s reach, forcing him to pull on the spoon each time.  He was not happy about having to do all this hard work, but he did it and managed to eat the entire bowl that way.  Plus, after many rounds of “spoon in the bowl . . . spoon in the mouth” he actually held on to the spoon while I dipped it in the bowl and put it to his mouth.  And of course later played with the yogi paint that had dripped onto his tray.

And lastly, I put in a bowl three baby crackers, each the size of a triscuit, which he had only once before tried.  One of the crackers I put in my mouth and chewed as he watched.  Rowan started playing with the remaining two, passing them from hand to hand, eventually breaking one of them.  So like so many times before, I got down to eye level with him, opened my mouth wide and went aaaahhh.  The corners of his mouth went up just a little bit, and he put half of the cracker in my mouth and watched intently as I chewed.  Then, without ever taking his eyes off me, he put the other half to his lips, bit off a piece, and slowly chomped on it.  I was so stunned!  But I didn’t want to break his concentration so I stayed hunched over in that position and watched as he slowly and deliberately ate the entire half cracker and part of the last one.  All of which ended with an ecstatic hugs and kisses from Mommy and Daddy.

And during that same meal, he also figured out that to drink from a straw you have to slurp in.  Three firsts in one day!  Each of us went to bed exhausted but content.

Bye bye long nails

.

Brushie brushie

* Actually, none of this made me cry, but Rowan definitely felt betrayed at not being fed anymore.