The self-feeding baby

With apologies to those of you who read my blog for its running content, though its tagline is after all "on running, babies and Canadians far from home". Time for more baby content. (Also appologies to SLG who is getting a double dose of this overly cute post as I spammed it to her e-mail).

Hubby and I have been following the parents' bible "What to expect in the first year" with a great deal of interest and conscientiousness. It is a great book in that it tells us, month-by-month, what milestones to look out for in la cocotte's development. La cocotte, who I sometimes suspect reads the book when we are sleeping, has been producing the aforementioned milestones almost exactly as dictated by the bible: rolling over at month 3 - check, bouncing at month 5 - check, crawling at month 8 - check, self-feeding at month 9 - what's that now? Self-feeding baby? How is that even possible? La cocotte does not know a spoon from mommy's dirty running shoes (her latest oral obsession). From the time she first started solids at 6 months, we have been spoon feeding her in the literal, not figurative sense.

Yet, sure enough, "What to expect" talks this month about how important it is to not be deterred by the mess the self-feeding baby makes. Mess, the book sagely assures its readers, is part of the learning and discovery process. Parents should not, the book sternly continues, wrest control away from the baby by taking over the feeding. Oops. La cocotte's parents have clearly fallen down on the job. Every morsel of food that has ever gone into her mouth has been delivered there directly by us.

This made me think, in four months she be in daycare (sigh). With a ratio of 5 babies to 1 worker, if she isn't self-feeding by then, I wonder how much feeding will happen? With that frightening image in mind, I decided to let the self feeding begin yesterday. Here, for your enjoyment and dismay, is a photographic account of the experiment.

Focussing on the task at hand, she attempts to get the spoon into mouth.

Where is the mouth again?

Ok, can't get food in mouth but I CAN get the glass of water emptied onto my shirt!

Wait, where did the bowl of food go?

Oh, it's down there. What are you doing down there silly bowl of food?

Yup, it's down there alright and I don`t think it`s coming back.

Bye bye bowl of food.

Bowl of food, come back! I want you in my mouth!

I`ll get you next time bowl of food! Mmmmm yummy biscuit.