Utensils Optional

Our little guy is becoming more proficient using utensils, however he certainly lives by the mantra "utensils optional." He usually begins his meal using his spoon and although food often drips onto his bib and smears his mouth on the way in, all in all he does a fine job for a 17 month old. However about half way through his meal, he seemingly decides that surely it must be more "efficient" to eat using his fingers directly without this bothersome middleman of a spoon.

Spaghetti sauce all over his face!

No big deal when he's eating cheese or some other solid food particle, but when he consumes yogurt or pureed veggies (he doesn't like them "hard"), madness ensues. The tell tale signs of this toddler are everywhere... all over the chair, on the table in front of his chair, on the floor around his chair (deftly missing the large, plastic mat), on the sliding glass door and the wall behind his chair...

This doesn't even take into account his actions when not eating; when Harrison decides he is uninterested in the food before him, he starts "dropping" it on the floor (or into Winston's mouth waiting eagerly below during most meal times) with the most innocent "uh oh" you could imagine.

Last night for dinner, I resorted to making him french toast with some syrup (don't judge me!) and at some point, he picked up his plate, tilted it so the remaining pieces fell to the tray, then placed the plate upside down on top of his head. When he removed it, the syrup left lots of little drops all over his hair and resembled quite closely a spider web full of morning dew (wish I had a picture of that!). If he wasn't so darn cute, I would be ridiculously annoyed by this behavior!