So many of you ladies out there are getting ready for the "feed themselves" stage. So here's a little post just for you. I don't normally post about stuff like this, but I'm just so amazed at how much more quickly Brayden has learned to use the fork and spoon compared to Ryan that I realized I needed to share what I believe to be the reason. Actually it was something my sister Trudy sent as a gift and has paid off immensely.
When both boys started eating solids, we used the Gerber rubber tipped spoons to protect their gums. Good for the purpose but not so much when they want to actually use the spoons themselves and keep food on them. I'm sure you ladies can testify that those Gerber spoons just don't hold a lot, nor do they lend themselves to impatient toddlers trying to keep food on them.
Exhibit A:
In the picture above, you see (from left to right) an adult set of silverware, a kids set, a cocktail set, the plastic set and then the Gerber spoon. I had bought several different kinds of toddler silverware. If you could find it in the grocery store or baby store and I bought it. The problem we had was that the plastic set doesn't hold much on the spoon and you really can't stab with the fork but they are lighter. The other sets are are actual kids silverware, but they are really big, heavy and again can't hold much on the spoon.
Here's where Trudy came in. She sent me a pack of cocktail (appetizer) utensils from World Market. They're smaller for the mouth, have a deep spoon to hold food, the knife isn't sharp at all, and they are LIGHT! Perfect. So you can also find them at Target with their dishes and I highly recommend them. Brayden is already stabbing away with the fork and getting pretty good with the spoon. Ryan is almost three and he still uses them. He can work the spoon so much better and spills so much less. The picture below shows a side view of the spoons so you can see how much deeper the appetizer spoon is. The appetizer fork is so narrow, it's just perfect!
Hope you all find these as useful as we do! Happy eating. Oh yeah, before I forget. Deeper spoon does allow for more food on the spoon so you might want to keep your armor on during meals. If your kids throw food as much as Brayden does, you'll need it!