using a spoon and oh! the aches and pains

one of the books i am reading on child development said that you should allow your child to play with the spoon, practice as much as possible. as long as they can hold a spoon without gagging themselves on it, or accidentally stabbing an eye, empower them and help them improve their manual dexterity. well, i am a tired, lazy mother and just did not feel like cleaning up huge messes due to baby self-feeding.

i decided last week to finally give it a try. not just letting him hold the spoon and guiding it home, but actually letting go to see what he would do with it. first he took the spoon and examined it closely, to make sure what was on the spoon was to his liking.


once it passed his exam, i found that he eats very well and VERY properly with a spoon. esp when he is hungry. he ate half an avocado this way - with me handing him a loaded spoon.


look at the way he is holding it. so properly! the only problem is that it does empower him. I tried to move to the next course of cook rice porridge (jook) and at first it looked like it was going right down the hatch!


all of a sudden, he stopped, back up his head, and studied it real close. "this is not avocado and is not acceptible mommy."


so before he could dump the spoon and its contents on the ground, i grabbed it and pointed a finger at him saying, "you you you, smarty pants little boy" laughing... and he laughed right along with me. i think the little bugger knows!!!



-------------------- accidental learning---------------------

that nbc show "heroes" summed up having children wonderfully with their episode last week. george takei (yes, star trek fans... he's back in a hit show!!) hands a baby to one of the main antagonists (who did not want children) and said, "Having children changes a man." the baby later turns out to have the ability to heal (aka wolverine). this adage, of course, applies to both women and men in the most wonderful and radical way. it really teaches you about yourself, both the deep and the shallow.

one example of this surfaced last week. william and i discovered something that we do unconsciously.... through thomas. around mid-february, we started noticing that Thomas would grunt when he was picking up something heavier or exerting himself in some way, like standing up from a squating position.

last night we were laughing at thomas because he gave us a particularly extended grunt, like when someone is constipated. then we starting saying how funny kids are, b/c where did he learn that?? certainly not from us. then we looked at each other. uh... uh huh, not from us.... riiiiiiiight. LOL rolling on the floor! :D
almost everytime william or I gets up from the floor, we grunt a little. the grunt of old people, old bones, creaking under the added pull of gravity. esp if thomas is on me and i have to stand up, i grunt quite a nice long extended grunt of exertion. they pick up things you will never imagine!