Addendum

For clarification...I asked and the nanny showed and explained to me a couple different times how she was able to get the medicine in Eddie. When I tried this morning, it did not go well. You'd have thought I was coming at Eddie with a cattle prod. So he got it via oatmeal.

The things we letting him do are nothing exciting, just stuff that drives us crazy. Like giving him a second bowl of oatmeal while we're feeding him and letting him have his way with it. After he emptied the bowl all over his face, hands, hair, highchair, and me, this morning, he hurled it across the kitchen. As it hit the floor, I saw in slow motion what Harold Edgerton captured with his camera: http://tinyurl.com/nfy4t as the oatmeal hit the fridge, door, and cabinet all at once I could actually watch the pieces of oatmeal flying.

We let him play with toys (something that is taboo while he's eating), and frankly whatever we can do to distract him--grabbing onto our clothes, pulling the bib off, throwing spoons, bowls, and food to the floor. Usually meal times are about as orderly as they can be with a one-year old, but it's a free for all when it comes to the meds. We haven't slid down the slope to chemicals or sharp instruments, but I suppose it would depend on our level of desparation.