On Eating

You can tell right away whether or not Xander is hungry for food. We have been feeding him for two months now, and once he is strapped into his high chair, he generally has one of two reactions. The more common reaction is a blank stare, or worse, the raised eyebrow, which he has quickly learned from his daddy. The raised eyebrow says, "You're kidding, right? I'm not going to do anything you want me to do." If he gives you this look, then you know meal time will be a chore. Whether it's breakfast, lunch or dinner, if Xander doesn't want it, you are going to have to do near stand on your head to get him to eat it. Misdirection was an early game we'd play - trying to get him to focus on the non-feeding parent, while the parent feeding him slyly slid food over his tongue. This worked for about a day and a half. Next was pleading. Pleading can sometimes work, depending on your tone, but only for a short period of time. Next comes singing. Generally, the best songs are the ones you make up on the spot, because those tend to be the goofiest, and the goofier they are, the more he likes them, because when you're smiling, he's smiling. A lot of the time though, none of that will work, and you simply just have to wait out a crying fit or pack it in and promise to do better next time.

But sometimes, you will see the gleam in his eye. When Xander is excited about his food, watch out. First, he starts breathing heavy with anticipation. Then comes the lunging. You have to be really good with your spoon work when the lunging starts. Xander gets so excited that if half of what's on the spoon winds up on his cheek, neck or bib, he is not a bit concerned. And if he's excited, cleaning him up mid-meal can be a lost cause. He is going to attack that spoon, lunging over his tray time after time, and his perfectly round, and sometimes rosy cheeks end up looking more like the start of a canvas painting, slathered in taupe, amber or goldenrod. But he's happy, and he's excited about eating, and so rather than worry that his face is covered in sweet potatoes, you're happy that he's happy.

Xander has been in "lunging" mode during each of his past two meals - last night with his sweet potatoes, and this morning with his oatmeal cereal. It's a positive development, one that I'm not sure has occurred in the past. And if you lump in the positive developments at lunch yesterday with bananas, thanks in part to daddy's "Ohhhh, Banana" song that he made up, that's three straight good to great meals. Maybe this is because Xander is eating three times a day now instead of two, maybe it's because he really likes food now, or maybe it's random chance, and today's lunch will once again be a challenge. But for right now, Xander is happy, and if he's happy, we're happy.