One Fuzzy Conundrum

I'm pretty sure our lunchtime activities would be heavily frowned upon by the American Society of Pediatrics. Somewhere in one of those stacks of parenting books that I no longer feel compelled to reference for every new stage of Abby's development, I remember reading something about choking hazards and cutting food into small pieces.

But allow me to explain my quandary. In this situation, we are dealing with two basic truths: Abby loves peaches and peaches are slippery. Which means, when I cut them into bite-size pieces, as much as she would love to eat them, poor little Abby simply cannot get a grip on this slick little fruit.

The solution, in my mind, is simple. Make the pieces big enough for her to pick up, and Abby will be able to feed herself the delicious peaches. (This way, only one of us gets sticky.) We'll add to our previous list one additional truth: Abby has no teeth. But Abby has solved this problem too. And so, for all the moms out there who are wondering how to feed their 11-month-olds peaches, I present you with the following easy steps from Abby's School of Peach-eating (or ASOP, for short):

1. Identify the slice of peach to be eaten, then lunge at it with both hands. This way, you double your chances for being able to pick it up on a first try.
2. Keeping a firm grip on the peach, turn it in all directions, perhaps even passing it from one hand to the other, carefully examining every surface of this particular slice.
3. Once you have determined that it is appropriate for eating, and before you squeeze all the juice out of it, gently take the hand holding the peach and shove both the entire slice of peach and your entire fist into your mouth.
4. Remove your fist, but keep it close by for shoving back in any stray pieces of peach that may try to fall out of your mouth.
5. Once the whole slice is securely in your mouth, try to resist mushing it up with your tongue or trying to break it into smaller pieces with your gums.
6. Now swallow it whole. And try not to gag.

There you have it. In six easy steps, you too could be eating peaches like a little baby pro. We're happy to report that using this easy ASOP method, Abby has successfully completed the eating of one whole peach almost every afternoon this week.