Lunch with a 6 month old

Eating, and most of all drinking out of a infant sized glass has always been the thing I was most skeptical about when reading Montessori from the start. I didn't even bothered to try with Peanut, not seeing how this could work. Although I had seen many pictures of small infants drinking successfully out of a shooter glass, I guess I just was not ready yet.

But then this time, I decided to have a go. I felt it was much more respectful of me to teach my son to drink properly right from the start then have him drink in a sippy only to teach him differently down the road. And I must admit, to my complete amazement, it works!

As far as drinking goes, the trick is to keep the jug of water near, and serve only a little bit at a time, but all the time

Je dois avouer que de tout ce que j'ai lu sur le pédagogie Montessori, c'est certainement la partie sur l'alimentation qui me rendais le plus sceptique. Et ben, je dois avouer, une fois de plus, elle avait raison. J'en ai vu des images de bambin qui tiennent leur verres à deux mains, (et oui, j'étais complètement épatée au fait) mais je suis restée bouche-bée de voir mon propre fils le faire... à 6 mois.

Pour ce qui est de boire, le truc, c'est de garder un pichet d'eau a proximité, et de reservir de très petites quantités d'eau à la fois.

now this is what I put at one time, but we even started off with a little less then that. We gave Pumpkin time to learn to bring the glass to his lip and drink. Honnestly, it didn't take him that much time to get it. And now, we can almost full the shot glass, and unless he misses his shoot of aiming for his mouth, we don,t have much water dripping. (and can I add hoe he LOVES driking that way. he is just adorable to watch!)

J'ai commencé avec une quantité plus petite que ça, question qu'il ne se noie pas avec sa gorgée. Mais ça n'a pas pris de temps, il avait compris comment ça fonctionne, et il ADORE boire d'un verre!

Feeding himself food is something that caught us by surprise. At one point, DH filled his spoon, and left it on the side of the dish while attending to something else. And before we knew it, he grabbed the spoon, and brought it to his mouth. Since the first time we have started introducing solids, he has always expressed an interest in holding his spoon. But being able to take it from the bowl and to his mouth started a couple of days ago. So we now only fill his spoon, and he takes care of the rest. And beware if he manages to catch the bowl, because he really is testing the constancy of gravity! ( need to mention the mess that comes with that?)

Now let get this clear, meals are certainly not a clean time. We have water dripping, spoon slipping out of hands and of course onto the floor...a major cleaning spree is required after meals! (and sometimes is not for the faint at heart!), but seeing my 6 month old starting to be able to feed himself is well worth the associated elbow grease!

La manipulation de la cuillère, ça je dois avouer que ça nous a pris par surprise. C'est après avoir rempli sa cuillère et l'avoir laissé sur le bord du bol que nous l'avons vu, DH et moi, prendre celle-ci et la porté à sa bouche comme s'il avait fait ça depuis des mois! Alors nous lui préparons sa cuillère, et la laissons toujours sur le coté du bol. Il s'occupe du reste. Faut faire gaffe, par contre, qu'il attrape son bol parce que disons que la gravité à été plus souvent qu'autrement testé dans les dernier jours, et que dire du dégâts que ça fait!

Faut se comprendre...Rare sont les repas où il n'est pas nécessaire de déclarer la salle à manger de zone sinistrée...Nous avons des verres d'eau qui se renverse, des cuillères pleines qui tombent par terre...et tout ce qui s'en suit... Mais de voir mon petit homme apprendre à se nourrir par lui même vaut bien l'investissement de graisse de coude!