The Trick to Table Foods

I discovered the key to table foods today. After some more failed attempts at finger foods, I decided to try Ethan on whole sweet peas for lunch since he likes pea puree, and they are relatively small and squishy. I put a few on the tray. He picked one up and gave me a look like "You've GOT to be kidding me." I ate a couple to show him the mechanics. He stared blankly. I tried to feed him one. He pursed his lips and turned his head away. In short, he behaved like he usually does unless I'm giving him Puffs or "Cheerios." Then I remembered how well he ate scrambled egg yolks when I fed him with a fork. I fetched his toddler fork and, right in front of him, stabbed one of the peas from his tray. He opened his mouth.

Now, it wasn't immediate. He gagged several times with the first one, once almost to the point of vomiting. With the second one, he gagged a little less. By the fourth one, he was eating peas like an old pro. He finished off an entire saucer full of peas with no problems.

This evening, after he ate half a banana in his yogurt, I decided to tempt fate and cut up the rest of the banana into small pieces. Remember, this ended in disaster last time, with one piece causing him to throw up thrice. I tentatively offered him a piece on the fork. He opened his mouth and ate it like he'd been eating them all along. He finished off the banana like it was no big deal.

So could this be the end of our table food dilemma? I don't want to jinx us, but it certainly seems to have helped! I still have hopes that he'll figure out how to feed himself, but for now I'm perfectly happy feeding him if it'll get him to eat. The only issue may be figuring out how to get things like toast on a fork!

In other news, Ethan has a couple of new "tricks." If you say "Give mommy a kiss," he immediately leans in, mouth open, and puts his mouth on your cheek and grins. Not quite a traditional kiss, perhaps, but still cute as can be! If you say "No no no!" (in a happy tone), he grins and shakes his head back and forth. And yes, I'm guilty of having him do both of these over and over, both because it's adorable and because I'm in awe of what a smart little guy he is! He's also adding new words to his vocabulary, but that's a story for another post. This is just such a fun age, and I can't wait to see what he'll learn next!