Seriously mom, I'm almost one.

When Benjamin was first born up until about he was about 6 months old he was a very spitty baby. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I had to change his outfit 3-5 times a day, and I usually had to change mine more than once a day too. It was terrible. No burp cloth could contain this child's explosions. I don't want to be gross here but the words projectile and gushing come to mind. Then once he started solids his tummy seemed to settle down little by little until eventually (probably about a month or so ago) I no longer felt the need to have a burp cloth handy at all times. I can remember how excited I was the first time Ben was able to wear the same outfit for an entire day. It was wonderful to cut back on doing so much laundry and I was even more pleased with the fact that I didn't have to try to keep Ben or Osa from playing in the little pools spit-up that he deposited around the house. Life was a lot less messy, for a while anyway. Benjamin has recently decided that he no longer needs my help while eating. He's been eating finger foods for a time now, but just this past weekend he thought he should take over spoon duty and he's quite insistent that he feed himself all on his own. He practically lunges at his bowl and spoon during mealtimes. And don't even think about taking his spoon away. He suddenly cannot seem to let go of it. I thought I'd try to contain the mess and shorten mealtimes by giving him a spoon to experiment with while feeding him with another. He likes to have both spoons. When I take one back he squawks at me as if to say, "Seriously mom, I'm almost one. I'm not a baby anymore." Okay buddy, you're big boy, but look at you...don't you think you could use a little help? It's fun to watch him learn how to maneuver the spoon just so and to see him become a little boy. But I have to admit I wouldn't mind spoon feeding him a bit longer just so I wouldn't have to go back to mountains of baby, excuse me, little boy laundry. I'm having a hard time understanding how he manages to get the food all over his bumper and up his shorts while he eats his dinner. Oh well, he doesn't seem to mind the mess, and neither does Osa. She's never eaten so good.