Child number seven, affectionately called Japoodah by his sister, was twelve months old and learning to self feed.  This is something I'd normally not encourage at this age, but pregnant and exhausted I let him go for it.  And, oh the mess!  The clean up for my older pregnant body was akin to running a marathon.  I just wasn't up to the mealtime mess this time around.

Mealtime went from dread to easy-peasy!  Foods like pasta, rice, crumbly cakes and muffins no longer made me cringe.  No longer did I mind my littlie learning about the texture of his food with his fingers (aka playing with it!).  And, I was pleasantly surprised with the experience.  Being relaxed about what he was doing with his food was a game changer.  It wasn't just that I was more relaxed about it.  I actually enjoyed it.