I’m generally not an overly clean or organized person. I don’t have a problem with letting a little mess and clutter go. What does bother me is food mess. I think I’ve mentioned this before somewhere in an old post. But it really disturbs me. When I finish a meal at home I have to take the dishes right to the sink or walk right away from the table. At a restaurant I can’t stand to have my finished plate sit in front of me for very long, I must have someone take it away as soon as I am done.

Which is why this is so difficult for me. Eleanor is becoming a very independent girl.  She wants to do everything herself, including brushing her teeth, dressing herself, changing her own diaper, and feeding herself. Even the things she can’t do, she wants to at least try before asking for help. Her favorite phrases are “I’ll do it!” and “I did it!” We really want to encourage her independence and cultivate a strong self esteem. So we are trying our best to let her try to do whatever she can by herself and not to fix what she has done or jump in before she has asked for help or rush her when she is taking too long. We are trying. Most difficult for me has been to just let my food mess aversion go and let her feed herself. But this week I decided that I have been feeding her for long enough and there is no use in fighting with her over it. Plus she really needs the chance to get better with her silverware.

Yogurt:

I’m pretty sure that at least 50% went on her face and in her lap, about 75% of what she did eat was with her hands, and it took her about thirty minutes to finish.

Oatmeal for breakfast:

It took her about an hour, but she managed to eat about 90% and she only used her hands about a quarter of the time.

All of this is testing my patience, but I know that if we can just stick it out we’ll all be better for it and eventually Eleanor will be able to eat without getting food in her hair and on her eyebrows (how does she even do that?).