Saturday, August 29, 2009

What a mess!


Finding out she was pregnant? Scary. Realizing that we were going to be parents any day now? Frightening. Bringing Kaylani home for the first time? Nervewracking. Hearing her cry? Heartbreaking. Her first sickness or injury? Terrifying. Looking back, we were ready for all of that to happen. But none of that compares to what we're going through now. In fact, it's the stage of Kaylani's life that Mommy has been dreading for years. She's been through it with our nieces and nephews, and only barely survived those times. Now, it's time to just go for it. Time to just rip off the band-aid. It's time to...let Kaylani feed herself!

I'm not just talking about giving her Puffs or Cheerios (which she doesn't eat unless you feed it to her anyways). Those are easy to clean up when she throws them on the floor instead of her mouth. I'm talking about real food, laid out in front of her, waiting to be eaten. But instead of being eaten, it's being crushed, torn apart, squished, spread around, and then thrown onto the floor. Even worse, it's being used to coat Kaylani's little hands right before she rubs her face, pulls on her ear, or Mommy's absolute worst nightmere, play with her own hair.

The mess is just something that has to be dealt with. Unlike teething, or a cold, or a growth spurt, this mess is hear to stay for quite a long time. Optimistically, it'll be over a year from now, or when Kaylani turns 2 (or later) that she'll be able to feed herself cleanly. Until then, we'll have to keep Mommy's heart in check when Kaylani throws a pancake over her head, or dumps a bowl of eggs out onto her try (or the floor), or tosses a bowl of pureed something or other onto the floor.

Kaylani's doctor told us to not show any emotion (positive or negative) when Kaylani does anything with her food besides eat it because it will teach her that she can get a reaction out of us. While it's easy enough for Daddy to just keep smiling at Kaylani when she puts yogurt in her hair and on the floor, it's downright painful for Mommy. Every time it happens, Mommy mumbles something under her breath about the mess through her gritted teeth smile. For Daddy, it just adds to the excitement of Kaylani entering this new stage.

So we'll keep on giving Kaylani food to play with as part of Operation: Fat Baby, or what might be renamed as Operation: Mommy's Heart Attack. No matter what Mommy says, she loves it and it's all good. If you wanna see some of the mess, check out these pictures of Kaylani's feeding area. Be careful thought...it's not for the weak hearted!

3 comments:

Steely Dad said...

Dude, I know exactly what you're going through right now. My daughter is going through the same stage. Although she is pretty adroit feeding herself (and has been for some time) it still doesn't matter because kids get so much information from squeezing and squashing that food. I can't keep her clothes or the floor around her clean. It's impossible. I guess it's just one of those things.

Eric said...

Does your daughter have any teeth yet? I think our daughters are the same age..

my kids have a habit of not getting teeth until they are closer to 12 months old..

We started the tray feeding, but its basically bananas and rice crispies

JonnyTam13 said...

Kaylani has her 2 bottom teeth that she uses to munch on things. She's still not the best eater, but she's getting better. But oh man is the cleanup a pain...