Drama in Dining

Piper has really picked up the whole eating bit lately.  She takes her regular food like a pro, and she’s getting really very good at feeding herself and handling new textures and tastes.  She still doesn’t particularly like any kind of chunks in her purees, but she’ll take chunks by themselves with no problem.  She loves to eat chunks of pears (and who can blame her?), and will bite off a piece from a larger chunk, move it to the back of her mouth, chew and swallow like it’s nothin’. 

Those little Gerber puffs are definitely a favorite (particularly the blueberry ones), and she’s refining her pincher grasp and getting better at remembering to let go of the puff once it’s in her mouth (for the record, I’m not sure if she forgets she has to let go, or if she doesn’t want to let go for fear that it may fall out of her mouth.  It really does lead to a significant amount of consternation at meal time).

She gets to chew on anything she’d like, including bell peppers, celery, broccoli, lettuce stalks, carrot strips, dried apricots, tortillas, slices of bread.

Her favorite thing, though?  These silly Veggie Sticks that we got in a giant bag at Costco.  And talk about a deal!  They’re less than $5 for a HUGE sack, and she gets about 3 a day.  They should last until she’s in Kindergarten, at least.  Undoubtedly  not the most nutritious snack, but she l-o-v-e-s them. 

They’ve proven to be a perfect prop for her fine motor practice (although she’s only done it a couple times that I’ve paid attention to, she’s figured out how to pick up one with each hand, pass one to the other so that she has two in one hand, and then pick up a third with her free hand) and oral strengthening exercises.

And most importantly?

She’s discovered that is capable of double fisting them.  Literally.  One in each hand, alternating bites from each. 

And, oh, the wrath you will face if you try to take one away from her.

Okay, so this isn’t the best picture in the world, but we couldn’t stop laughing.  Luke and I were cooking dinner the other day, and turned around to see this:

Double-fisting the sticks, plus one sticking out of her mouth.  I’m not sure what she was doing (or if she knew what she was doing), but she certainly couldn’t figure out why we were laughing so hard. 

Never a dull moment.  Ever.