The Rise and Fall of a Cereal Artist

We're back! Actually, we never went anywhere. I did some school volunteering and subbing at the end of last week. Then my mom came to visit, so it has been very hard to get to the computer. Today was a quiet day around here. Nothing going on except a quick trip to Kroger, and Matt gone most of the day. Harper and I shared a little oatmeal as part of dinner. She's been showing some promise with a spoon lately, so I gave her the bowl and spoon. Of course, as soon as she had the bowl in front of her, she abandoned the spoon and dug right in. I should have expected as much!



Apparently, Harper enjoys the feeling of food between her fingers. Yuck!

Please notice that, while she wasn't eating with the spoon, she wouldn't give it back to me either.









Once Harper had her fill of oatmeal, she discovered an entirely new purpose for it. Art! She would stir the oatmeal around with her spoon and then proceeded to spread it on her tray and the counter. This is not an activity I would normally endorse, but I was interested to see what the results would be, and Harper was having a lot of fun.







The photo is a little dark, but here is Harper's first attempt at "food as art". Perhaps I can look forward to mashed potato sculpture in our future. . .

Alas, as with all good things, this fun with oatmeal could not go on indefinitely. When she started flinging the oatmeal, instead of merely spreading it, I had to put a stop to the creativity. Cleaning oatmeal out of the dog's fur is not my idea of a good time.





This is the tortured state in which Harper found herself after I cleaned up the oatmeal. She has a true artist's temperament! Her fit was completed by throwing herself face down on the kitchen floor after I took her out of the high chair. I didn't have the heart to photograph that, it was just too sad.