Your daughter's a Limey Food Flinger, Mother! What will the Bridge Club think?

Lila has started to feed herself and it is a fabulously messy affair. She's been able to eat finger foods (bread, little bits of chicken, etc.) for quite a while now. The new skill is using a spoon! We cover as much of her body as possible with a bib -- and after the first time I got a spoonful of food in my lap, I started wearing an apron -- put the food in front of her and let her go to town. She's really surprisingly good at getting the food into her mouth, but about half of it also ends up on her face, chest, the tray/table, the floor, and me.

I sit in front of her with another spoon and help out. I scrape up what's on her chin and chest and put it back into the food container. I also give her bites in between her own bites because sometimes even she gets frustrated with how long it takes her to eat. Don't get me wrong - I don't rush her. And if she decides she doesn't want what I'm offering her, that's fine! I have discovered, however, that when she is distracted by feeding herself, I can slip in bites of food that she doesn't normally want to eat and she hardly notices. That's one point for Mommy!

Now if I could just get past my aversion to getting food on my hands...