I'm exactly sure how or when it started, but most dinners at home end up like this picture. After picking at her food for a while, Clara stands up, sidles over to me, and sits on my lap. I put my feet up on her chair, we both recline, and we put her plate in front of me. Then, I start picking up her food and pretending to eat it. Clara snatches it away from me and then eats it herself.
I'm pretty sure this situation has it's origins in the high chair days, when the spoon of baby food was an airplane and was fed to her with many an zooming noise. Plus, sometimes it went off course and headed towards Dad's mouth, which made Clara jealous enough to eat more. I've usually been able to get Clara to eat more types of things and more food overall, even when she says she's done. We don't do a ton of dessert so that carrot is unusable. But I do have some fun tricks like:
- "I bet you can't eat six pieces if spinach at the same time."
- "Those green beans look like walrus tusks. What if they had four tusks?"
- "The looks good! I think I'll have it."
- "How many black beans can you fit on your spoon? I bet you can't do more than seven!"
So it's mostly just silly play, throw in a little competitive eating, and of course, taking her food without permission. But at this point, it's been happening for several years. I know I'll miss it when it ends, but I also am starting to make jokes that we'll be at her wedding and she will come over during the meal and sit on my lap to finish her meal. At least I have yet to resort to the tactics of the mother in the attached movie clip.
"Mommy's little Piggie" from A Christmas Story
That is hilarious! That is so something that would make me eat my vegetables. Good post!
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