So Grown Up :)

Dada has always done morning dropoffs at school, and Mama has always done afternoon pickups from school. Dada and Harrison have good man talks on their way in each morning, and then they do the morning dropoff routine together (outdoor shoes off, indoor shoes on -- this is new!, check diaper, wash hands, start breakfast, kiss and wave bye bye). Lately, Chris has been a little sad because he's noticed that Harrison is ready for him to leave sooner and sooner, and today might have been the biggest day yet...

The breakfast menu varies quite a bit, but the constants are always fruit and milk and that the school encourages the kids to "self-feed." In addition to fruit and milk, the other offerings can be cold cereal (in a bowl with milk -- those people are crazy to offer that), oatmeal (again -- those people are crazy to offer that), yogurt (once more -- those people are crazy to offer that), grits (you know what goes in these parenthesis), biscuits, pancakes, waffles, bagles, or even French toast. The kids eat better than their parents. So once Dada and Harrison get to the breakfast part of the morning routine, Dada likes to get a few spoonfuls of the messy stuff in Harrison's mouth before he leaves Harrison and the others to their food fights. Harrison, however, has been getting less and less tolerant of this interference!

This morning, a sad but proud Dada reported that Harrison actually touched Chris' hand, pointed at the spoon in Chris' hand, and then pointed at the bowl of yogurt ("Dada, put the spoon in the bowl -- I'll take it from here"). Then he did a big grin and waved and said "Bye bye!" Poor, dejected Dada had to give Harrison a kiss and leave without feeding him any more bites. Harrison's teacher tried not to giggle. :)

I told Chris not to worry -- that the kids eat breakfast until 8:30, have a snack at 10, have lunch at 11:30, and then have another snack after nap (plus Harrison has a snack in the car on the way home), so there are plenty of opportunities for a little boy to fill his belly. Still, though, it's sad not to be needed. :( Two more months and Chris gets another little boy who will still let his Dada help him eat!