Getting Anson to Eat

Truth be told, Anson has always been a messy eater.  From birth that's one of the differences I noticed between Claire and Anson.  Claire was a steady, quiet & clean nurser.  Anson grunts & sighs & drinks fast but lets the milk slop out of his mouth.  Girl vs boy?

Since my week training in San Francisco mid-December he refuses his bottle.  This past week none of us have been able to get Anson to eat anything from a spoon either.  We're still nursing so he's not starving but the kid has to get food now that he's past 6 months.  He's refusing food so much I can't even get the spoon in to let him taste the food - even applesauce that is yummy even for me.  He even started crying & protesting with lips closed tight so I couldn't sneak the spoon in (smart boy!).

The only two times I've been able to get him to eat this week were when I gave up and let him play with the food bowl.  To my surprise, he actually ate a ton once I gave in to having a mess.  I'm not sure if he just has to know what's going in his mouth before he'll eat it, or if he's just distracted enough that I can get the spoon in, or if he actually thinks his hands are putting the food in his mouth.  In any case, I think I need to buy a bunch of those Ikea smocks that Claire literally only wore twice since the bibs were sufficient.  The smock for Anson today was a lifesaver - no, laundry saver.  Do they make mechanic style jumpsuits for infants? 

Here's my messy boy.

Yeah, the outside of the bowl is just as messy as the inside...  Let's not talk about the state of my hands or clothes afterward.

The bad news is, feeding time is going to require lots of clean-up until we get through this stage.  (Please only be a stage!)  The good news is, I've figured out how to keep my kid from starving.  I sacrifice 2 spoonfuls to the tactile hands and get 8 spoons in.