Permission to make a mess

This may come as a surprise being that I do pottery and used to do surveys in streams and muddy swamps, but I don't like having dirty hands; as evidenced by Daniel's ice cream video, he doesn't either. Babies are supposed to be messy and explore their food, but I have been meticulous about keeping his face, shirt, and hands clean while I feed him. Mom told me to have him eat more finger foods and to put his yogurt right on his tray. Yogurt? Are you serious?! During his lunch I put a plop of it right there on his tray. He stuck one finger in it and wiped it on his shirt. Gasp... okay, restrain yourself. You can clean him up later.

Before I knew it, the plop had become a huge smear that spread from his tray to his shirt to his face. I was still giving him spoonfuls, but he was having fun getting it on his hands and licking his fingers. Usually when I give him Cheerios, he ends up playing with them more than eating them - dropping them on the floor and such, but as they got all mixed up in the yogurt, they held a new appeal. He hasn't enjoyed Cheerios that much since the first week we introduced them. He even handed me one to try, which I graciously ate and then quickly wiped my hands.

After lunch, I pulled out a bag of dried fruit. I've only tried the dried fruit a couple times since the Target-Raisin incident, and each time he refused to eat any. With his new-found confidence from lunch, he took a raisin from my hand, put it to his mouth several times as I was saying Yum yum yum!... and then he ate it, and continued to smack on it and a couple others for about an hour. I also tricked him into eating a banana chip by telling him it was a cookie. I know was deceptive, but both are sweet and crunchy and tannish-yellow. When I said cookie! he popped that sucker right into his mouth without flinching.

So sweet baby boy, I give you permission to make a mess. Get as messy as you want ... just let me wipe your face before you wipe it on my shoulder!