Mr. Independent

Benjamin recently decided that he no longer wants to be fed by his parents. No matter what we try to offer him with a spoon, he adamantly rejects it with a determined turn of his head (with the exception of certain sweet treats such as ice cream or fruit slushie). However, he will happily pick it up off his tray with his own fingers and eat it. Usually.

First, I had to include these pictures because it seems like EVERY baby needs a spaghetti sauce shot.

Another recent Benjamin thing is his eager "Cheese!" for the camera. We feel so blessed to have such a happy son!

Now, when we were visiting Grandma Key, we had some Mac-n-Cheese for lunch. It was Sunday afternoon, Benjamin had already had a bath, and we didn't have a high chair for him. I hoped he would be hungry enough--and like maccaroni enough--to just let me feed it to him.

No. Not happenin', Mom.


So in the end it was between his fingers and in his hair. And he loved it!

Now, cereal has been a battle for us. I want him to eat it. He's tired of eating it. It's one of those things he just has to eat with a spoon but, again, the spoon is not so much his thing. So, I figured, hey, he's gotta learn eventually, right? Let him have at it! So I have started giving him the spoon with some cereal on it (after he utterly refuses to eat another bite from me), and he happily puts it in his mouth. The first time. After that he generally just waves it around while grabbing fistfuls of sticky goodness and smearing them in the general vicinity of his mouth.


In the end, though, I think he consumes most of it. We wash more of his clothes, and I cannot vouch for the cleanliness of my kitchen floor, but he's learning to do it himself, which is okay with me.