We are civilized!

I decided to take a risk and yesterday, I delivered breakfast on PLATES!! Yes, that is right... PLATES!!! At breakfast, the boys were given their pancakes, sausage and strawberries on their own individual plates. They were a bit surprised and confused which gave me a few seconds to snap a few photos before I had to man my post in preparation for plate tossing to commence.

Here is the before picture....
And here is the after....
We did it!!! We ate our breakfast off of plates and we did not even toss the plates!!! When I gave the boys their sippy cups, they all tried to set them on the plates. They all showed some interest in the plate once they were finishing their food and started to slide them around. I would hold the plate and say "we don't play with our plate." It seemed to work... for now.

I was prepared for a bigger mess but it was a much cleaner meal as most (key word most) of the food remained on the plate. Sorry Murray!

Since things went so well for breakfast, I tried this again at lunch with our peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, banana and carrots.
It was a success!! I immediately called Daddy to share the good news and asked him to pick up some plastic plates on his way home from work so we did not burn a pack of paper plates in a week.

The biggest challenge so far of the plate experiment is the speed at which each of the boys eat. Wesley eats like he has not seen food in over a month! He is a speed eater and then immediately wants more, more, more. It is so hard to believe he is our skinny mini. Then we have Andrew who is a steady eater. He does not race but starts right away and eats steady until he finishes two helpings. And then, we have Jared. Jared eats like a restaurant critic that is savoring every bite. He takes a bite, takes a break, takes a bite and then takes another break to look around. Sometimes, he even sits watching his brothers eat for a few minutes before he even starts. With this, Wesley and Andrew are usually done (with two helpings) before Jared is even half way done. Everyone stays at the table until everyone is done so Andrew and Wes get to wait and watch Jared eat. Before plates, we could scoot the food right in front of Jared and prevent stealing from baby on left and right. Now with plates, the boys can reach Jared's plate so we get to play plate defense for Jared.

As I write about this, I thought I would share a video that Daddy took last week to show you a little about what I am describing. Here is the scene at snack with Jared's last bite of graham cracker. Andrew is the hand on the left and Wes is on the right. Please note that Jared is in no hurray....

I am so pleased that the boys are now eating off plates. It is very nice to prepare three plates and then pass them out instead of portioning food out as we progress through the meal. Next steps.... forks and spoons!!

Take care,