Self Feeding Time
21 May
The little one is officially feeding herself. With a spoon. And of course hand coz we’re Indians like that :) Gosh it only feels like it was a few months ago that she started her first solids and now she’s feeding herself?!
It does make eating out more bearable thesedays (not the mess though!) because she’s busy stuffing her face to eat that there is less time to fuss around on the table. Aaah bliss!
So now she’s gone all big girl on us by refusing us to feed her at all. Of course she makes an exception for food like pasta or mee/meehon where it’s much more harder for her to pick up with a spoon and fingers, but in general she still attempts to feed herself and creates a major mess with each meal.
The mess she creates by the time she’s done with her food is just horrendous!! If you think cleaning a poopy toddler is bad enough, try picking up those bloody bits of rice that fall into every corner of the baby chair. That baby chair has one too many stains and has lived to tell some of Sairah’s gastronomical adventure stories.
Going barehands with those chicken fingers.
Sup chikin, in a few seconds time, you be in mah round tummeh!
Mmmm chikiiiin.
Why does food have to be SOOO good!
Sometimes I feel so bad when we go to a restaurant. By the time we’re done, there’s droplets of rice on the table, on her baby chair, on her clothes, on the floor….I ALWAYS tell the husband to leave a bloody tip regardless whether service or food was crap! Because that takes the guilt away a lil :D I know I wouldn’t be happy if some tyrant munchkin came in and dropped food all over the apartment so I can imagine how they must feel. I’m afraid that one day we might get banned from going to these restaurants.
Mess aside, it’s always so much fun watching her feed herself. For every spoon that succesfully goes into her mouth, half a spoon of rice would have fall off onto the floor. Of course our lil Silky Terrier is not complaining because he gets to polish off some of the food. And sometimes, she proceeds to call him boooyyyy, and drops off some of her food for him to eat. Generous much? Or just trying to avoid food that she doesn’t like? 
But you know what REALLY takes the cake? How polite and thoughtful my baby girl is. Despite all that naughty-ness that she gets up to day after day, that girl still knows her table manners!! When we tell her to eat, she proceeds to say ‘Mommy eat, grandma eat, grandpa eat, aunty eat, daddy eat’ – LITERALLY asking everyone on the table to eat as well with her.
LIKE OMG, that really blows me away each time because my baby girl has such impeccable table manners!! I don’t even know where that comes from since I don’t even bother asking my own mom or dad to eat coz I put my tummy first before everyone else, lol, shame on me.
*tears of joy* I tell you, I must have done some really good things in my past life to get such a thoughtful baby. Naughty but a thoughtful one.
Now if only she can eat without creating a single mess, that would be the ultimate table manners 
Then, maybe just then we’d be ready for another round of fine dining?
NAH!
Oh I hear you…tell me about picking rice bits after our lil one’s mealtime sojourns !
I call it the ultimate test of patience 
It’s a beautiful sight seeing them being all so independent ..feeding themselves…it can get a tad difficult trying to continue feeding the lil one though, she losses interest altogether after her many earnest attempts to feed herself as she doesn’t usually get much into her tummy and it mostly ends up on the table, chair and floor !! not to mention on herself as well ! 
They should invent those lil high chairs that come with a pouch where the food can fall into it and we can easily just dispose that pouch! Ah yes, usually i try to feed her myself a few spoons here and there before she proceeds to feed herself. But i guess they must be full otherwise I’m sure we’ll hear ‘maam maam’if they werent. Can’t wait till she can steadily feed herself without making a mess, am sure you are too!
There is a bib wt a plastic piece that is folded at the end, that’s designed to “catch” the food that falls. My niece has it, think it was from Tommee Tippee and i think i saw the similar type from Bumble Bee (but that was at Sogo)…
But, that works well if the food falls from the mouth. Wt my boy it wont work cos the food falls on the way from the bowl to the mouth!
There’s also this raincoat kinda thing to wear over teh child when eating, saw it in Ikea. But hubby is against the idea of getting that. He said we shouldnt mar the eating experience.
Yes, cos its moi who’s on her knees picking up the food pieces from the floor!!
I’ve actually seen that, hubby’s cousin’s son has that. LOL i also highly doubt it would work on her plus I dont think she would be happy with something strapped on her so your hubby is right la, should let them be free and easy, they will eventually learn to be less messy I suppose. Even now she refuses her bib. But true that, its us (or rather in my case our silky terrier) who ends up picking after them.
Here it is, Tommee Tippee:
http://www.mybbstore.com/webshaper/store/viewProd.asp?pkProductItem=1128
And Bumble Bee:
http://www.mybbstore.com/webshaper/store/viewProd.asp?pkProductItem=1233
Thanks for the link, will check it out!
Awwww she’s gonna be all grown up pretty soon! Yeap, I remember I reading the post on her first solids. And it’s all the more awwww when she says everyone to eat as well. Hahah yeah, I am sure most parents would love to have toddlers with awesome table manners.
My baby girl is growing up *sniffs* I dont know where she picked it up from but it’s so sweet when she asks us all to eat as well. Now if only she can eat without dropping food all over – that would be the ultimate goal and table manners, lol.