Emily Post Would Faint

Have you ever been around a toddler when they eat?  It "ain't pretty", to put it in the vernacular.  Tonight I fixed a dish of meatballs in a thickened sauce full of veggies that was to be served over rice.  Sweet Pea's mommy made up a batch of rice in the rice cooker so the rice was nice and sticky, just like rice should be.  When we sat down at the table, little Sweet Pea sat next to me, clinging to Toby the Train who ended up beside her plate while she ate.  This is definitely a "before" picture.  She LOVES rice!

Mommy gave her a little bowl of rice and she had a child-size spoon and it was all on a large Winnie-the-Pooh plate so I thought we were good to go.  Uh-huh!  When I looked over at her, she had rice stuck in her nose, all over her skirt, on the chair, and surrounding her on the floor.  (Where's a dog when you need one?)

As I continued to keep an eye on her even as I ate my own meal (which was good, by the way), she would take a handful of rice, stuff some in her mouth, follow it with a spoon of rice which she'd turn upside down as she'd look over at a distraction and then she'd try to pick it up but would be horrified when it would stick to her fingers so she'd wipe her hands on her hair and then head back to the bowl for more.

"More rice," she asked nicely.

I tried to be helpful by scooping some of the mounds of rice up that were on the chair and on her lap.  Oh-oh!  Did I mention how sticky the rice was?  Now we were both sitting there with rice on our hands.  I was NOT wiping it on my hair, however.

I offered to wipe her hands off with a handy napkin.  Nope, she wasn't going for that at all.  Okey dokey!  In the end, it seemed there was only one wise course of action.

Mommy scooped her up and took her outside to shake her off.  Some critter will be eating good in the neighborhood tonight.  Little Sweet Pea came back inside looking much more presentable.  In fact, she almost looked like she'd never had a bite of rice.

She climbed back into her chair and looked at us.

"More rice please," she said.