[blparent] finger food suggestions for an almost toddler

Tue Feb 24 21:05:49 UTC 2009

It really does. 
And, you can get undressed yourself or get into a t-shirt because
anything she touches including you and your clothes will also get
slimed. 

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Jo Elizabeth Pinto
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 3:51 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blparent] finger food suggestions for an almost toddler

I was just joking last night that I ought to get in the bath tub with
Sarah and the food, and just let her go to town.  I hadn't thought of
stripping her down to a diaper, though, that might save on the laundry.

Jo Elizabeth

"Don't throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one
holds water."--Swedish proverb
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pickrell, Rebecca M (IT)" <REBECCA.PICKRELL at ngc.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] finger food suggestions for an almost toddler

> Hi there.
> Melanie was *exactly* like this, right down to the bottle and cup.
> What I did was strip her down to her diaper, and just let her have it.
> Then, I bathed her and put her in the playpen while I cleaned up the 
> high-chair.
> I even baught a wooden high chair, because it was easier to wipe.
> I joked that I would feed her in the bathtub but never resorted to it,

> though I seriously thought of getting in the empty tub with her and a 
> bowl of food.
> The upshot is that now, a year later, Mellie is a neat freak. She's 
> also good at the spoon and fork.
> You can also give her more finger foods, hot dogs, cheese, deli meat, 
> steamed veggies, fruit (you can get it precut in little tubs) stuff 
> like that.
> I also did this and left the messy foods for my husband to feed, who 
> also had the same experience as yours.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> On Behalf Of Jo Elizabeth Pinto
> Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 2:27 PM
> To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
> Subject: [blparent] finger food suggestions for an almost toddler
>
> Hi, all.  Sarah and I just got finished with the lunch from hell.  Or 
> at least that's the way I perceive it--she seems pretty satisfied with

> the world now that it's over--she's babbling happily and playing with 
> the pots and pans in my kitchen cupboards like nothing happened, like 
> her clothes and mine, and our hair, and the high chair aren't covered 
> with Gerber spaghetti and meat sauce, like we weren't both near tears 
> five minutes ago.  I feel like I got hit by a train and dragged for a 
> little while.  A slight exaggeration maybe, but only a slight one.
>
> Sarah and I have been having battles lately over the spoon, most of 
> which I lose.  It isn't that she doesn't want food, she's fortunately 
> not a picky eater.  She'll try anything.  The deal is, she wants to 
> feed herself.  Fair enough, that's the end goal, right?  But the spoon

> is too cumbersome for her, so she resorts to her hands.  That's fine, 
> as long as she's eating diced banana or sweet potato or bits of meat 
> or hard-boiled egg yolk, or whole round peas, or Cheerios.  But those 
> foods alone hardly make up a balanced diet.  She needs other things 
> that are too soft and runny to pick up, like yogurt and such, and she 
> absolutely won't allow me to feed her with a spoon.  If I can manage 
> to hold down her two wildly waving fists with one hand, she flops her 
> head madly from side to side so I can't get the dreaded spoon anywhere

> near her mouth with the other, and she ends up with food behind her 
> ears, across her eyebrows, down her neck--you get the picture.  And 
> you can imagine the screeching sound track that goes with it.  I'm 
> finding it hard to be calm and patient.  This time, after many tries, 
> I gave up on the spoon altogether because I don't want the high chair 
> to become a power struggle or a source of traumatic memories, and I 
> sure don't want to cross the line into force feeding.  I had that done

> to me as a child and still suffer the effects.  I thickened the Gerber

> spaghetti and meat sauce with cereal so it would hold together and 
> just let her shovel it into her mouth with both hands from the high 
> chair tray, and then cleaned up the big mess afterward.  Gerald can 
> feed Sarah with a spoon, but she certainly isn't willing, it's just 
> that he can see the flailing hands and the dodging mouth and sneak 
> bites in on her.  But he isn't here most of the time, and I have a
responsibility to figure this out.
>
> Anyway, besides the catharsis of writing this all out when I feel I 
> have to tell most people most of the time that things are utterly 
> perfect, otherwise I'm afraid they'll be doubting me as a parent and, 
> in the case of my family, wondering if they should intervene--I guess 
> my question is how do I resolve this stalemate?  I know I should give 
> Sarah more finger foods, and I'll be looking for every new idea I can
get on that front.
> But till she can feed herself with a spoon, how can I help her and the

> mealtime skirmishes that nobody really wins?  It's so odd because she 
> has no wish to hold her own bottle or learn to drink from a cup, but 
> she wants to feed herself no matter what.
>
> Thanks,
> Jo Elizabeth
>
> "Don't throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one 
> holds water."--Swedish proverb 
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