Why we do bathtime after dinner

John is all about feeding himself these days. He used to be my super-eater, but now not so much. He really isn't into the taste and texture of meats, but one thing he does like, and devours with gusto, is spaghetti. So I've taken to making him his own sauce, with about five different hidden, pureed, veggies, and when I'm in doubt if he'll eat what I'm cooking that night, out comes the "John Sauce" and noodles.

These photos are actually in the wrong order, so pretend you're looking at them from bottom to top. Above is the "final" result of his eating fest. As you'll see below, likes the combination of hand and spoon - if he can't get it in with the spoon, he'll just use his hand. I don't think you can tell from the bib, but I actually strip off his shirt and let him eat semi-nude. I also drape a tea towel across his lap and tuck it into his shorts to help protect his clothes and the chair from spaghetti stains. 

I run the bath during dinner, and he gets stripped down to nothing right on his chair and carried (held very far away from my body) straight to the bathtub. On spaghetti nights he gets his own bath to begin with, then we let out most of the water and refill - not exactly "environmentally friendly" but it beats getting spaghetti noodles in the kid's hair when I wash them! As you can tell, we've got Spaghetti night down to a fine science.

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