Child number 4, almost ten months old now, has reached a milestone. He can now eat Cheerios on his own!
Now that does not sound like a very big accomplishment compared to learning to walk, but learning how to eat Cheerios means several things. First, he is not choking on it. He has learned to chew gum his food and manipulate it in his mouth. (He currently only has two teeth on the bottom. The two on top are almost there.) Second, he has began to develop his fine-motor skills. It takes a lot of skill to pick up one little Cheerio and place it in your mouth. Before I know it, he will be picking up crayons and drawing on the walls.
For the parent, this comes with one big bonus. He can now be easily occupied for a short period of time. That gives my wife and I enough time to finish some household chores, finish our meal in a restaurant, or even finish this journal post. Of course, this little trick will only work for a couple more weeks.
FYI — There are approximately 4800 Cheerios in a 15 ounce box of cereal. No, I didn’t count them. This guy did. 🙂