This sign recently appeared between the elevators in the building where I go to physical therapy.

I wonder how often people have lost things down the elevator shafts, that they feel a need to put up a sign about it.

“I love mooshed broccoli with milk!” I cannot for the life of me get Benji to open his mouth when he doesn’t want to (Mom has some sneaky way of weaseling the spoon into a Fort Knox-like mouth), but we have a new feeding technique: Let Benji feed himself. Sort of, anyway.

He’s eager to grab things and, once grabbed, the thing immediately goes into this primary sensing chamber – the mouth. When we hold a spoon laden with delicious goop for him, Benji grabs it and shoves out into his mouth. A little judicious guidance and a quick tilt-and-scrape deposits most of the food on his tongue. When that happens, Benji gets this astonished/hurt/betrayed/puzzled look, since most objects that go into his mouth don’t leave cargo behind. Then he reaches for the freshly-laden spoon and does it again, right down to the shocked look.

It works. It even worked today for a new food: oatmeal. That actually went down quite well, both figuratively and literally. I’m pleased and hopeful that oatmeal will begin to provide some real solid calories.

Last but not least, Benji helped me cook today, at least insofar as licking the spare whisk is helpful.