Independent

Let me introduce you: Mr. Benton "Independent" Gailey.  Benton has started to show some independent signs lately.  For example, tonight we were feeding him yogurt and he wanted to take things into his own hands, literally.  He sees us putting the spoon into the yogurt container and then feeding it to him.  He wanted to give this a try and it has been recommended by the pediatrician to start letting him feed himself since that is a good sign of independence.  At first I gave him the spoon to dip into the container.  This lasted for about a minute and then it went into a hands-in-the-yogurt-container fest.  Benton dipped his fingers in the container and fed himself.  It was fun to watch him dip his fingers into the container, grab finger-full worth of yogurt and put whatever was left from the time his fingers left the container to his mouth inside his mouth, which wasn't much and ended up all over the highchair tray.  He did, eventually, give the spoon a try.

More yogurt landed on his head, face, bib, and tray than it did in his own mouth!