self feeding

ava is a lousy eater. she's not a picky eater - she turns up her nose equally at broccoli and ice cream, she's just a bad eater. ava is at best disinterested, and at worst fiendishly opposed to the whole concept of eating. this is difficult to deal with as a) she's not really old enough to understand that if she doesn't eat, she'll be hungry and b) she can't quite feed herself, so you are forced to suffer through the experience with her. the latter is aggravated by the fact that she is unusually fussy about food texture, a slow learner in the chewing department, and therefore hard to engage in typical "finger foods".

thankfully, right on schedule (18 months) ava is finally developing the dexterity necessary to successfully pilot a spoon from bowl to mouth. ava has to be in the right mood to bother with this whole feeding thing, and i have to be in the right mood to clean up the resulting disaster area, but when all the stars are aligned, she winds up looking quite pleased with herself.