Breakfast

Meal times are becoming more and more challenging for me.  Drew will usually eat a few bites of his jarred food and then he seems done with it.  If I try to clean him at this point, he will scream at me so I know he's still hungry.  I think the issue is that's he hungry but he'd really like to feed himself.  We don't have very many options for finger foods though where he can feed himself so it's been a struggle for the last few weeks to get this guy a sort of healthy sort of well balanced meal.

Friday I made his breakfast and it was the same story.  He ate a few bites and then turned his head.  I decided to let him try to feed himself.  He put his hand in his bowl and played, but he also allowed me to keep spoon feeding him.  He didn't really get that he was supposed to feed himself, but at one point he did lick some food off his fingers.  I cheered like a maniac in an effort to promote positive reinforcement. :)

Anyway, this is what happens when you let a 10 month old feed himself from a bowl of pureed blueberries and pears.

While I don't particularly enjoy meal time, there is one of us that especially loves it when it's time for Drew to eat. As I've been trying to find more finger foods that Drew will eat, I've been giving him different things to try.  Usually he will try something once if it's on his tray.  When he doesn't like it, he'll ignore it for awhile, but eventually he will throw it on the floor.  This is his sign that he is finished.  Stella is particularly fond of this new behavior as she gets quite a few scrumptious treats as a result.  Normally, we don't give the dogs people food, but I figure this is usually a small amount and relatively healthy so I don't worry about it too much (plus the last thing I want to do after an exhausting meal is clean the floor!).  I think it's funny that there has been items that I've tried to get Stella to eat before but she hasn't, but she's eaten it if it comes from Drew.  (It didn't take her long to figure out that if he drops it, it's worth eating).