Self-Service

Riley doesn't eat a lot of food at a time, but she is, what I would consider, a good eater. She's not picky at all, and will nearly always choose healthy foods over junk. I've complained to my sister in the past that I want Riley to figure out how to feed herself with a spoon, but I don't want to deal with the mess that accompanies that learning process. Having already gone through it once with her oldest son, and facing it again in the next few months, she wasn't very sympathetic.

I finally gave in yesterday and let Riley feed herself lunch and dinner. I was surprised how well she did. For lunch I made her some Easy Mac because it seems to be stickier than the regular boxed mac & cheese. (I'd rather not think to much about the artificial ingredients that might cause that.) As you can see from the photos, Riley did really well with no interference from me.

I made a big deal about every bite she successfully got into her mouth. All that cheering, clapping, and high-fiving made her pretty excited to keep trying. She seemed pretty proud of herself.

We did the same thing with a Gerber toddler meal of Turkey & Rice Stew for dinner. That one was much less clingy, but Riley still did better than I expected she would. I'm still not about to let her go at a container of yogurt by herself...but we're getting there.