Scott's Hall of Fame: Scott feeds himself!

I am going to share a secret.
I was a little worried about my kid. He's been eating solids for a couple of months now, but had shown utterly no interest in actually picking up the food and putting it in his mouth. No...he was more than content to let mommy spoon feed him at every meal.

I couldn't really understand why. After all, EVERYTHING else seemed to go straight into his mouth - tablecloths, his feet, board books...you name it. And as a first time mommy, I really had no idea when he was supposed to develop this instinct. But I've wondered about it a lot.

Turns out, I needn't have worried. (Insert bragging voice: My kid is SOO SMART AND ADVANCED!!!)

Tonight, we had our weekly Sunday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Richardson's house. Scott was getting a little fussy before dinner, so Grandma asked if he could have some puffs (Gerber cracker things that dissolve in your -- or baby's -- mouth.)

I was unenthused. "He won't eat them," I told her.
Grandma gave me a look. I knew better than to argue with her. So out came the puffs.

Sure enough, Scott turned his head away, and chose instead to suck down the last couple of ounces of milk in his bottle.

We started dinner, and moved back into his comfort zone - pureed green beans, followed by a few bites of pureed apricots with mixed fruit.

But I had also prepared a special treat: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. When I've given it to Scott previously, I've blended it into a pulp and fed it to him on a spoon. But he's now got two bottom teeth and two top teeth that are coming in simultaneously, so we decided to feed the macaroni to him in its pure, original form.

Grandma, who was in charge of tonight's dinner, dumped some macaroni on Scott's high chair tray. He looked at it, looked at her and looked at it again. He reached for it, but then decided it would be much more fun to gnaw on his empty spoon.

This went on for about 10 minutes. Then Scott picked up a piece of macaroni, and tried to put it on the spoon. Spoon went upside down in his mouth. Macaroni went on his shirt. Attempt #1 = FAIL.

It was around this time that I thought: "Okay, my baby is truly weird. What 7-month-old tries to put macaroni on a spoon? He's going to be the only kid in elementary school trying to eat his french fries with a knife and fork. Awesome."

But Grandma didn't give up. She dumped more puffs and more macaroni on the high chair tray.

And then it happened.

It was like something clicked in Scott's head. His pudgy little hand went for the macaroni and puffs, grabbed them, and made its way to his mouth.

All four of us - me, Jim, Grandma & Grandpa stopped eating and stared. When the food reached its destination, we all cheered and clapped like the Tanker had just won the Nobel Prize or something. (Hey: Positive reinforcement, its important.)

Mommy, seriously... can't you just feed me like you usually do?

Macaroni is slippery and so hard to grab!

At long last, success!!!

Oh, I got this. I am a total pro.

He giggled. And then did it again. And again. Within minutes, there was no stopping him. He topped off dinner with a couple of bites of gelato (a gift from daddy). He completely freaked out because it was so cold, but loved the taste, and was soon on a total sugar high.