What A Mess! 2: Taking It Public

Several months ago, I wrote a blog post titled "What A Mess!" in which I shared the story of my first experience at feeding my daughter solid foods, and the mess that ensued as I tried desperately, and ineffectively, to "work clean" while feeding her.

Since then, I have had plenty of practice at feeding her, and I can now swiftly empty a jar of strained vegetables into her mouth without letting a single drop fall onto her bib or even, more impressively, her chin. At least, that was the case until recently, as I wrote about last week in "I've Been Downsized", when I was recently "let go" from my position as Personal Nutrition Delivery Specialist for my daughter, as she is making the transition to finger foods.

While I may still be a little heartbroken that I'm no longer needed for such a mundane task as feeding her myself, now that she has moved on to finger foods I have been able to reap a benefit from her new skill in that we can now share a plate, both at home and at restaurants, which opens up a whole new world of food possibilities (and allows us to leave our house more often for meals, instead of living in constant fear of "feeding time".)

Since she may not be ready to eat an entire hamburger by herself just yet, not all restaurant options are open to us yet. But, if we know that we will be eating out somewhere and want to feed our daughter "people" food (Technically, baby food is people food too, but I wouldn't really place rice cereal in the same category as steak), we look for something that is easily deconstructed into finger food for her with as little effort as possible.

Burritos, believe it or not, match this requirement quite well. Once you remove the tortilla, or cut it into bite-sized pieces, most of the components inside are already perfectly bite-sized portions of food our daughter already enjoys, like rice, beans, tomatoes (from mild salsa), and guacamole (if it's chunky enough), and can feed herself.

So, with our tortilla-wrapped knowledge in mind, we all went to Chipotle (where the food is hormone and antibiotic free) for lunch the other day. My wife shared her veggie burrito with our daughter (I don't share food...with anyone!), by splitting open one end and giving her her own plate of rice, beans, tomatoes, guacamole, tortilla pieces, and cut-up green bell pepper.

As my wife and I enjoyed our burritos, our daughter munched happily on her version of the same meal. As I watched her pick up individual beans and clumps of rice and bring them to her mouth, I noticed that only about half of her food was actually making it to her mouth (which isn't really uncommon) and fall to her lap. Luckily, we have a high chair cover that goes everywhere with us, so I knew that most of the food was being trapped below her.

When the three of us finished our meals, I started cleaning up the table and tossing our trash. Once I had done that, I picked my daughter up, who had managed to get bean shrapnel all over her face and hands (and in one ear, somehow), and lifted her out of her high chair cover.

At this point, I failed to notice two things: 1) The larger-than-normal pile of food that had accumulated in the bottom of the high chair cover, that had "missed" her mouth, and 2) The fact that her shoes had gotten stuck in one of the foot holes of the cover.

So, as I picked up my daughter, oblivious to the two facts above, I also simultaneously dumped about a quarter of a burritos worth or rice, beans, and salsa remnants on the floor, which quickly covered an area of about nine square feet. It should also be noted that this Chipotle is smaller than most and only has about 12 tables. So, when I realized what I did and said "Oh, CRAP!" while standing in the middle of the restaurant, I immediately garnered the attention of everyone in the room, who, all in unison, looked at me standing up and then at the mess around my feet.

Luckily, my wife realized what had happened and hurried to gather up the rest of our belongings, so we could shuffle out the door in embarrassment, as one of the employees came over with a broom and dust pan while we were still standing there.

Maybe this mess was more my fault than my daughter's, but I'm sure this won't be the last time that half of her food ends up on the floor, whether by her doing or mine!