Saturday, February 27, 2010

The Cheerio Milestone


Sebastian has hit many milestones lately worthy of making his parents proud, but this new one just might be mommy's favorite. He can eat Cheerios! Suddenly the prospects have greatly improved for what to do with a baby bored in a restaurant, a baby crying in the car, a baby fussing in the stroller, a baby exasperated with sitting at the table watching everyone else nibble on snacks. Give the child Cheerios!

Overly eager for the day to arrive, I tried giving him Cheerios several weeks ago. While he was fascinated with trying to pick up the tiny O's, they really weren't ideal for him to be chewing yet. So we waited. Since trying again, he does wonderfully - he has been practicing picking them up and he doesn't have problems gumming them up.

It's amazing how difficult eating a Cheerio can be for a beginner. So many things can go wrong. Consider:
-you could accidentally brush it off the table in an effort to grab it
-it could get stuck to the saliva on your hand and cause much confusion
-it could end up tucked into the palm of your hand with no conceivable method of release
-you could drop the Cheerio on the way to your mouth
-if the Cheerio actually makes it to your mouth, you could discover that you can't seem to let go of it!

But after much practice, Sebastian has become quite proficient at using the two-fingered grasp to seize each Cheerio, transport it to his face, and deposit it safely in his mouth. He's a pro! It's so funny to watch him concentrate so intensely on his task. He's entertaining himself and feeding himself all at once. I definitely like this milestone.

A few photos of brotherly moments:


We got a nice, small, collapsible stroller, and, as I suspected, Misha loves pushing Sebastian around in it. Works great in the mall!




The classic bubble-bath photo. :)


Boys and blocks. Misha makes elaborate castles, while Sebastian prefers to knock them over. To solve this problem, Misha makes small castles next to Sebastian for the sole purpose of Sebastian's destruction enjoyment. That's pretty sweet of him!

3 comments:

Bill said...

Hmmm--yes a baby with Cheerios does have a lot to learn! Funny!
Misha is so cute with Seb; he's a nice big brother! --mom

kate said...

So cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tanya said...

This is great! Love the analysis of the skills necessary to eat Cheerios, and the boys look so darling in the bath and playing with their blocks.