15 month old feeding and behavior

Hannah - posted on 12/23/2009

My daughter "uses" utensils in the sense that she holds a fork or spoon while eating with her other hand. She utensils are occasionally used for banging, flinging, and other not so desirable activities. My husband and I declare "meal over" when she starts playing with her food more than eating it. We will leave the food out for a short period of time to make sure that she is not still hungry.

My daughter loves to pull everything off of every surface! We have stopped using table clothes to avoid her pulling all the contents of the table off at once. Everything we don't want her to have we put up on higher shelves. She still tries (sometimes succeeds) at climbing on top of boxes, toys, chairs, and so forth to get to things we would rather she not have. What we have done is every time we catch her climbing we gently but firmly tell her no and put away whatever she was using for climbing. We put everything that we would be harmful for to get a hold of in the kitchen and put up a baby gate to keep her completely out of that room.

On days when I am at my wits end I remember that this is how she learns. She is exploring, growing, and learning. While it drives me crazy at the moment this stage is going to pass and I am one day going to look back and think, "Gosh wasn't she cute!"

Sunrise - posted on 12/23/2009

Just keep telling yourself "this to shall pass" I'm on several Sept 08 boards and this seems to be a common complaint right now. I'd say it's just a stage.



Rubbing food in the carpet - we have a strict rule that the only eating done by our kids in our house is at the table (and in our LO's case, in her highchair). The only exception is popcorn and soda in the media room when we do family movies.



Kiera (my Sept baby) does use utensils but will pick the food up with her fingers, put it on the utensil, then put it to her mouth. So while I can say she uses them, things aren't always what they seem...lol. Kiera is very good at finger feeding.



Have you tried giving one piece on the tray at a time and maybe take her hand and assist her in grabbing it and bringing it to her mouth? I don't have much else for you ((sigh)).



As for taking everything down... BOTH my older kids did this and it drove me nuts, until I finally gave up and stopped following after them picking up. I then put toddler friendly items at their level and put everything else in totes, cabinets or on higher shelves. This stage took a while to get through, I remember it lasting until they were near two ((sighs again)). Kiera likes to take items off shelves (IE books) and we have some nice books that she gets down and looks at or uses to stand on to reach higher things. But she has yet to rip or harm anything so we have not limited her.



Your doing great! Keep in good spirits and know you'll get through this, even if you have a few less hairs.