table manners

Jonathan is not exactly what you would call "polite company" at the dinner table. As I imagine is the case with most 15 month olds, there is a lot of banging, throwing, spitting out food, whining, dumping, etc. Today was one of those rare moments were I was able to look at him as this tiny little person exploring and engaging his world (instead of being constantly irked by his poor manners) and I was reminded again that he is just so new at all of this. He doesn't know what happens when you bang a sippy cup into a peanut butter sandwich or the noise banana chunks make when they hit the floor. There are a million ways to pick up a waffle- one of the most fun being to stick your finger though the middle and then try to jam the whole thing into your mouth. And while we are at it, doesn't your voice sound funny when your mouth is so full you can barely breathe? How many times in a row will the dog eat the peas thrown to the floor? What happens when you take a big gulp of water without swallowing and then let your mouth hang open?

He is really tremendously engaged in his own series of experiments, and as a science teacher I hate to discourage inquiry. But at some point manners should be learned. Among my top choices for rules to be followed at our table are:

• Once food is in your mouth it stays there and is swallowed.
• Food and utensils are not projectiles.
• The dog's food and the baby's food are not interchangeable.
• "More" and "please" are acceptable ways to make your needs known. "EEEEEH" is not.

I feel like I'm not asking for a lot. My blood pressure would stay considerably lower during mealtime if I had an idea of how and when to teach and enforce these rules. How much is too much to expect from a 1 year old? How much is to little? And what sort of consequences will work when he has such little interest in food to begin with?