Babybear has, as you may know, been using a spoon with some success for a while now. Not for everything, goodness knows, just for yoghurts and soups on days when I'm Feeling Strong.

Anyway, when I've loaded up the spoon she has until recently grabbed the spoon off me and proceeded to eat it/wipe it in her hair/flick it onto the walls. Not so the past week, however... at least not at first...

No, what Babybear has now decided she likes is for Mummy to load the spoon and hold it out, so that she can lean forward and eat off it. Like I'm a blimmin' wine waiter with the first sip of a freshly-uncorked bottle... 'Eez thees to your liking, Mademoiselle?'

If she likes it, then the paw goes out for the spoon, but if not her mouth will forever remain shut to the offending item (most recently a particularly delicious parsnip, lemon and ginger soup). And more than that, at just-turned one year old I appear to have been tricked into spoon feeding her for the first time in our lives.