Get Messy

Source: Here

The other night, I was on dinner duty with B and Chino. I needed a quick and easy dinner, something (somewhat) nutritious and of course, delicious. I stopped at Trader Joe's on my way home from work and grabbed some frozen gnocchi and some ground beef to throw together when I got home. I thought for a second about how messy B would get as he LITERALLY stuffed his face with it, but then decided to embrace it. Instead of feeding him with a fork, I stripped him down to his diaper, sat him in his high chair and let him go to town. I'm so very glad that I did. He had an absolute blast, picking up the food and feeding himself. By the end of it, his fact was covered, the high chair tray was covered and Chino was a very happy mutt, since he was the beneficiary of the food that was flying during all of the excitement. Of course, I posted the photo of B on Facebook because everyone loves a messy baby. He got a lot of likes and comments, but one comment stood out. Someone said that she was afraid to try that with her own son because she was afraid of the mess. In that moment, I decided not to be afraid of the mess but to embrace the mess. The mess is the fun part. Yes, it took some extra baby wipes and a post-dinner bath to clean it all up. Yes, I found ground beef in his diaper (how does that happen?), but the smiles and the fun and the laughter were all worth it. I know that some days, we won't have time to embrace the mess, but I'm going to do my best to wrap my arms around it and to live in the now, thinking about the consequences later.