Saturday 23 February 2013

Spoons

There are so many actions that we do every day as adults that we take for granted. We walk, we stand, we sit, we drink from a cup and use spoons and forks to feed ourselves. All these skills we learn in our first couple years of life.

It is not just as simple as picking up a spoon and eating from it. Babies must learn to swallow things other than milk or formula. Not an easy task. Once they learn how to swallow, they can gradually move to foods that are thicker, pureed veggies and fruit. Then chunky foods, and maybe some easy to chew and dissolving things like rice crackers or arrowroot cookies. But still they lack the motor skills to effectively feed themselves with a spoon.

Anyway, this week LB took his first sips of rice cereal off a spoon. Most of the cereal ended up on his bib, or chin, but a little bit was swallowed. The second day more than on the first day. Its a big step towards growing into a busy toddler like Monkey.

Monkey has been eating off a spoon for 15 months now. She doesn't need my help anymore, but hasn't completely mastered it. I know she will with time, you don't see many adults that dirty after a bowl of yogurt.


LB's first day eating off a spoon


Monkey 15 months of eating off a spoon. Clearly she has not mastered it.

So while spoons may look like the simplest of utensils, remember that we all started out not having a clue how they worked. 

I need to go make sure I have some clean wash cloths before I feed the kiddlets again.

GeoMama

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