It's about perseverance

Cheerio's: 0
Cheese: 0
Noodles: 0
Ben: 3

As you can see, Project Feed Ben Real Food isn't going so well. It's a big jump from pureed veggies to hard Cheerio's. He opens his mouth for everything, but then he spits it right back out. We had a little more success letting him feed himself noodles. I think he ate 2 little bits from his own hand, but he would not eat it if we tried to feed him. I'm going to buy bananas and cook some carrots for him and see if we can make a mushy bridge from pureed foods to Cheerio's and cheese.

Unfortunately, we're starting to see hints of a toddler personality emerging at mealtimes. Saturday afternoon I was feeding him green beans for lunch. He's not too fond of green beans, so I was ecstatic when he gobbled up the first half of the container. Then the whining began. And the spitting, which was perfect since I WANTED green polka dots on my white shirt. I told him to stop in a stern voice and it worked for about 2 seconds. He whined through the entire rest of the container, but I didn't relent. I knew he was only whining because he didn't want to eat green beans, but I made him eat it (aside from the globs that were spit onto the highchair and me). Of course he shut up and was all sweetness when I fed him bananas. "Oh, mother. Bananas are ever so tasty. Can't I just eat those for lunch?"

Ugh. I'm not ready for this toddler tantrum crap. He's right on the verge of crawling and/or walking. I'm not sure which is going to come first, but I think he's getting frustrated with his lack of mobility. I'm hoping that's what's been causing the crankiness as of late, because it seems like he's been whining non-stop for a week.