September 17, 2000 - Sunday
Harry's pretty good about eating - at least since his break through in July - but I can't remember a time since we started feeding at the table during our dinners that he's taken longer to eat than both his mother and me. There have been a few occasions when I've finished first, but that's usually because of some special circumstance like his dinner was a little slow getting going. It's more common that he'll eat for a little while, then tire of the whole affair and start leaning, grabbing, and generally expressing his growing disinterest in staying stationary any longer. I'll usually rush to finish my meal so I can unstrap him and get him on his way for the evening. His mother, who generally eats more slowly, most often takes a little longer to finish.

Yet, tonight, Harry outlasted us both. And, it was not by any fluke of timing, organization, or finicky eating, but rather he quite vigorously ate for longer than either of us. We were having spaghetti and the little pieces that Harry gets admittedly take longer to eat than the full length version on our plates, but Harry had a variety of options on his tray - including Cheerios, soft carrots - in addition to the spaghetti and was simply chowing down. His mother and I didn't know quite what to do with ourselves, habit having made the end of dinner always a little rushed. But, naturally, we let Harry eat for as long as he wanted.


Comments, opinions?