PB & J

Ok....so we have a problem on our hands. I have started giving Freddie peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. That's jam for you Brits (we call jelly jello in the states and when we say jelly we basically mean jam). Anyway- the problem is not that he doesn't like it. He LOVES it. The problem is I have to basically give him a bath every time after he eats it.


He starts out by curiously pinching the sandwich repeatedly before finally bringing a little bit to his mouth. Once he gets the first taste, the eyes widen, the lips start smacking and the rest is history. The first half of the sandwich flies in. After his initial hunger wanes, he starts to play with the sandwich more and more in between bites. He passes it from hand to hand, smashes it onto the tray and pats it on to his feet and thighs. Sometimes he even takes a moment to offer me some. It's so generous but I usually decline.

A half hour later and we are finally done. The delicious mixture that is PB & J has yielded an EXTREMELY sticky residue all over Freddie (arms, legs, feet, face, hair, ears), the high chair (tray, seat, footrest, floor) and me when I'm carrying him into the kitchen to get cleaned up (hands, shoulder, waist, HAIR). We both basically need a bath and a change of clothes.

What can I do? The bib has become a bit of a joke now. It protects such a miniscule area. After lunch I still have to change his entire outfit and either do a wet rag sponge bath, babywipe the H out of him or do a full bath. Last week I gave him a bath after the PB & J lunch and there were little chunks of sticky sandwich stuck to the side of the tub afterwards. Mmmm. Today I was lazy so I just stuck his arms and legs under the kitchen faucet (tap). We don't have the kind of time to be doing so many middle-of-the-day baths. We are busy people!

That being said, I am happy to wait out this playing-with-food stage because he is still so dang cute even (especially) when covered in peanut butter and jelly. Those of you with older kids might be able to give me a glimpse into the future though- at what age can they get 90% of the food directly into the mouth? 2? 3?