June 12, 2004: Smoosh That Spaghetti or What To Do While Eating

If you think your life is tough, try being 10 months old. It is T.O.U.G.H. Imagine having two healthy hands but not being able to eat by yourself. So you are being spoonfed and there is nothing really for you to do except open your mouth and chew. What would you do with your hands? Veronika has some suggestions: Grab your sippy cup and smash it on anything hard. Make it loud. Try to get the valve to fall out - then let the liquid pour out on the tray. Distribute all over with both hands. Get a hold of a piece of food and squeeze it ... tiiight. See what happens. Then open your fist and try to lick any leftovers off your hand. Wait for the dog to come by and offer him your hand to lick. That tickles! Laugh until your food gets stuck in your throat. Cough. Spray your mom with little chunks of food. When being fed with yogurt, cereal or anything pureed try to grab the approaching spoon. If you do it in the right moment, the content will land on your hand or tray. Quickly spread your dinner all over the tray and your mouth (you have to act fast, they will try to stop you!) - then scratch yourself on the back of your head.

Well, if that wasn't enough, imagine not being able to walk nor crawl but all the objects in your surrounding are absolutely new to you! So you try to reach things which always brings your body in some impossible position you can't get out of. This happens about 50 times during the entire day. You have to scream for help every time. Sometimes you have to wait to be picked up. It might take a LONG time, like 5 minutes or so!

Twice a day you are put into your bed to sleep. You cannot leave the bed by yourself in case you are not tired and decide not to sleep. What to do? Veronika has some tips: Move around as much as you can. Lying on your back, lift your legs up as often as you can, at the same time move your head - that will eventually make you rotate. Grab whatever you can reach and throw it to the other side of the crib. If you rotate well enough you will come within reach of the bumper - try to lift it. Try rolling on your tummy. If you succeed, cry for help. If you are not too tired cry REALLY LOUD. Let out an earpiercing sound. Several times. If you are too tired for that, chat with yourself. If you hear the dog barking, imitate him. If you do eventually fall asleep, make sure you are awake before your mom comes in. Do NOT let her know that you really were tired. Pretend you've just had a grand ol' time by yourself in the crib!

Given this enormous amount of frustration there are luckily a few activities that offer relaxation:
- Being super-cute 24/7
- Opening and closing the dog kennel door and banging on the washer beside it
- Dropping and picking up objects
- Lifting your favorite toys in the air and bursting out in enthusiastic praise
- Growing your first two bottom teeth
- Kissing your stuffed bunny
- Feeding your cracker to the dog
- Sleeping through the night once a week
- Watching your favorite videos and
- Being super-cute 24/7!

p.s. Check out the two new videos!