Self Feeding

I realize that the toddler years are just beginning. The Little Bean has embraced them with exuberance. She is already insisting on feeding herself. She screeched loudly if not given a fork or spoon of her own. She hands me the fork, I spear some of whatever she is eating that day and hand the fork back. She literally snatches the fork and shoves it into her mouth. Truth be told, she usually has two forks. While she is eating off one fork, I am filling the other with food, then we switch. It just seems to make things happen a tiny bit faster.

As you can tell from the photo below, this self feeding thing results in messy mealtime. In the photo she had just finished eating spaghetti, steamed vegetables, and strawberries and creme for dessert. Strangely, this kid loves to eat vegetables. In fact she often eats the vegetables and refuses what I consider yummy like mac and cheese and raviolis. I wonder if this will continue.Previous to this self feeding obsession our routine included 1800 - supper, 2000 - bath, and 2100 bedtime. Since she has started making messes like the one pictured above, bath has been moved to occur immediately after supper. After breakfast and lunch we have the usual "wet washcloth wrestling match." This usually leaves the little bean crying and partially covered in oatmeal or tomato sauce.
Auntie K and Uncle Giant got the Little Bean a super cool Christmas present. It is a little tin of the colored chip things that we put into her bath. It makes her bathwater turn all sorts of colors. She isn't all that impressed with it, but I sure am! I mix the colors and make a lovely deep purple. Green is also one of my favorites. And dark blue. It makes it look like she is bathing in the ocean!
This photo is from this morning. The Little Bug has gotten inside her toy box and is throwing toys out left and right!