ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a two-year observation of a small boy's journey from being breastfed at birth to self-feeding. It evokes much of the "ordinary" learning experience of doing an infant observation, undertaken as a trainee in Scotland. The chapter provides observations of infant and mother, paying particular attention to subtle and possible unconscious communication integrated in the discussion with some of the developmental research. It explains the effect of detailed week-by-week observations and the use of the observer's own responses in understanding the material showing well what is involved for an observer. The chapter offers the role of the father in supporting his son's developing sense of self. It explores eighty-two visits later when Daniel was nearly two years old; Daniel was feeding himself in his high chair. He ate his smoked salmon and French toast finger food quietly and independently.
