Recently, mealtimes have been a struggle for me and Ewan, especially during lunch. He would taste the purée, decipher if he likes it or not, take a few more courtesy bites and look away from me with his mouth tightly shut. To cut the long story short, the ending always involves me fuming and him crying. While I detest force-feeding, the thought of him going empty stomach without milk and solids just stresses me out.
Yesterday, I decided to take a different approach. Instead of adding plain water to the cereal, I tried milk. It didn’t work either; he hated it. Ini tak boleh, itu pun tak boleh…apalah nak jadi? (Everything’s a no, what should I do?) *sigh* I thought, perhaps I’ve been too uptight with him finishing the meal. You know what? What the heck…let’s break the rule and play with food today!
And so we did. It was one of the wisest decisions I’ve made that day. He had so much fun feeling the texture of his cereal, digging in his little fingers into the soggy food and smudging it all over his face, head and body. I didn’t even have to do anything to keep him occupied. Poor highchair though – everything from the tray and seat rest to seat and stands weren’t spared from carrot-asparagus-pear purée.
My regret sunk in only after the session was over. Cleaning him and the place up after that was no joke; everything was purée-stained, what’s more when it’s carrot! Bad idea to play with carrot 🙂 Even Odee refused to help with the stubborn splatters on the floor.
Padan muka (deserve it!)…
but don’t u think it’s fun to watch them play? but not too often.. later become habit of playing with food. 😀
Ya I enjoyed seeing him play with the purée, it became funny at some point. After having to do so much clean-up, I decided this kind of play session will have to be limited to once in a green moon!
Awww Ewan had so much fun feeding himself. Before I reached the end of your post about cleaning, I’m actually kinda tempted too. But now that you mentioned, I think it can be done with a “cleaner” puree choice. Pear alone? And sit on Bumbo rather than highchair.
Definitely gonna strip Natey naked for something like this. Lepas makan-main, remove CD and straight into the tub kekeke 🙂
Try it, Jac! Being an neat freak (not as organized as you though), I had to challenge myself to let loose 🙂 Remember to spread a newspaper/plastic bag beneath Bumbo for easier cleaning and yes, pear is a wiser idea 😉
this is so cute. I think my mom and maid will kill me if i try this.
That’s why it’s only once in a green moon. He liked the experience so much that these days (unfortunately), he tried to dip his fingers into his purée :S
HAha… the sparkle in his eyes! He is having fun!