The puppy and I sat at the table for about ninety minutes for supper this evening. We were having such fun. We were laughing and playing and eating and it was all totally perfect and everything you'd hope a blw-ed toddler would manage. Except...I now know how they get kids to eat veg at his nursery. I served him peas in a separate bowl (so as not to offend him and also to see if he'd eat them on a spoon if they were like cereal). As soon as we sat down at the table he picked up a large spoonful and shoved it in my face going 'mmmm, nom nom' and other encouraging noises! I took the first couple of spoons offered and then said 'no thank you', which he did not accept and kept pushing and pushing. He certainly has not learned this behaviour at home so it must be nursery. Hmmmm.
Once I'd persuaded him to stop trying to shove peas in my face we had so much fun with them: he tried to feed them to his tummy through his belly button, learned about squishing them on the table and I may have (ahem) taught him to flick them. Whoops. Well, that'll teach nursery to force feed him peas - now he knows something else to do with them. The floor was covered but it was hilarious.
I also let him bash the table with his empty cup, much to his delight - I sometimes struggle with this. It doesn't hurt to let him do it and gives him such pleasure but I know other people don't want this behaviour in their houses. I guess he'll just have to learn that there are times and places for banging and for not banging.
Are others similarly relaxed about manners at this young age?