Let Me Do It!! December 8, 2011

Dominic began his independent streak when he decided he no longer wanted to be held before bedtime. If a bath hath been taken, lotion hath been applied, and bottle hath been drank, there is no need for mommy and daddy any longer. Put me to bed, and get out!  At least that's what I envision him saying. It's a blessing, really, when I hear of other parents who literally still get up with their kids all night into the terrible twos. I have a baby who decided he eats dinner at 6, takes a bath at 6:30, and wants to be in bed by 7. Yes, sir.

More recently, Dominic has become somewhat independent in his eating habits. He grabs for the bottle and drinks furiously when he's super hungry, and once he's had about half his bottle, it's up to us to hang on to it for the rest of the meal. But this isn't the independent streak I'm referring to.

You see, the other night, I pulled a jar of bananas out and sat him in his chair. The previous night, we'd given him carrots and daddy was able to feed him and Dominic also took a turn at feeding himself, but mostly Daddy was the one to give him his carrots. So two or three nights ago, I airplaned the spoon towards his mouth and he pressed his lips shut as tight as they would go. I tried to make him laugh and sneak the spoon in, but apparently I've gotten too slow for this snappy five month old. He pressed his tiny lips shut before I could even get the spoon aligned with his mouth. We looked at each other for a few moments, me trying to figure out what trick I could try next, and him thinking, "Just let me do it."

I saw him reach for the spoon, so I gave it to him. He grabbed it, looked at it, opened his mouth and ate all the bananas on that spoon. He then looked at me, shook the spoon while kicking his feet. I suppose this was an indication that I was to refill his spoon so he could have another bite. Well, I refilled it, and this time I wanted to feed him!  Pressed lips? Yep. Reached for the spoon? Uh huh. Fed himself? You betcha. Sigh. Really, Dominic? I don't even get to feed you your first bananas??  You're grounded!

Daddy had the day home with Dominic the following day, and decided he'd like to have a bagel with some peanut butter and bananas. As he was eating, Dominic was staring him down and acting like he wanted a bite.
So, Rey grabbed a banana and cut off a portion of the peel next to the stem.

Dominic reached for the banana with excitement in the shaking of his hands. How intriguing, this yellow thing.

He grabbed the banana by the handy stem that daddy left with a cross-eyed curious look on his face.

And began to CHOW DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As he ate, Daddy said that Dominic gummed the banana so much that small chunks of mushed up banana began falling off and into Dominic's mouth. He became dazed and confused, making grimaces and staring at Daddy for confirmation that all was well with the world. The more he gummed his 'toy', the more perplexed he became at why it was falling apart in his very hands.

I'm very impressed with this photo-op-breakfast-time-story from the most loving daddy in the world.