Biting, Part 1

We all know that you're not supposed to bite the hand that feeds you but what about the spoon? E's latest game is to clamp his beautiful new teeth onto any spoon that dares enter his mouth. Somehow he can then create an adorably evil grin even with the spoon hanging out of his mouth. Hanging is not really the right word: the spoon is extended firmly in the air like a plank from a pirate ship. "Let go", "open", and "grrr" only get him to smile wider without loosening his bite on the spoon one bit.

Sounds cute right? Well imagine you have a hungry child you are trying to feed before heading out to run some errands. Now consider the fact that each bite now takes about 5 minutes between the proffering of the food-filled spoon and its reluctant parole from the prison-mouth. Add the fact that these errands are small-boy-focused and will most certainly be in vain. The plan looks like this: search as many stores as possible for things you know do not exist in this town. Note that the child has recently reversed his opinion on shopping and will now only tolerate it as long as he is moving. A gentle back-and-forth motion of the stroller is not enough; it has to be full speed ahead. The boy will succumb to the lure of any new object put within reaching distance but removal of the object leads to a very unhappy baby. Have I mentioned that he now has a pretty good throwing arm?

That was our afternoon yesterday. Then we got to feed him dinner.

He did actually bite the hand that feeds him also, but I guess that was my fault because I put my finger in harm's way checking to see if new teeth were on their way. The way he's drooling these days, it seems probable.

Amazingly, the cat has not yet bitten the child. He's not even really growled at him. We are trying to teach E to pat the cat nicely, not pull his tail or grab his fur, but it's a difficult battle. The cat enjoys taunting the child by laying on the coffee table swishing his tail back and forth in E's face. Yesterday, little E gave the cat a great big, full body hug. No reaction from the cat except, and I may have imagined this, an eye roll.

I gave this the title "Biting, Part 1" because I'm sure we've only just begun to experience the fun of having an enthusiastic but untrained owner of teeth around. It seems like there should be a licensing procedure for teeth.