Dining out

I just read a cute and very relatable toddler-dining related article today. It actually came at the perfect time because it resonated for me by following smack on the heels of our grandma-and-aunt-birthday dinner celebrating weekend. You can read it here.

When the hubs and I take T out to eat these days it’s generally a) at lunchtime b) when we can sit outside and not bother anyone but families with other kids who have the same idea and c) at a place with a playground. No, we are not eating at  McDonalds thank you very much….I have to say, Austin happens to be pretty good with putting playgrounds next to their restaurants. Something I never would have even remotely considered a plus in a restaurant dining experience before T. While we might not be going to any 5-star celebrity chef haunts these days, at least the local bar-food joint has swings and a slide, which is amazingly helpful for getting through an entire meal.

But in honor of the joint birthdays, we ventured out for an actual dinner-time dinner. There were slight heart palpitations, I admit it. But we ventured out into the world of normal-timed dining with a diaper bag full of books, trucks, snacks, and even the ipad loaded with some Blue’s Clues.  Since he refuses to sit in a high chair these days, we never know how sitting (in general) is going to go – will he refuse the booster seat also? Trip a waitress? Jet into the kitchen? How in the world can you keep a toddler in one place in a restaurant when he is no longer strapped into his seat*? This night, we cornered him in the booth, and it seemed to work out ok. We went through two books, one episode of Blue’s on repeat, several escape attempts, and some short track & field games as he attempted to run back and forth along the short empty stretch of the booth while enamored with watching his handsome self in the mirror (much to my dad’s dismay, we left some fingerprint evidence behind on the mirror as well). All in all, he did pretty well. Especially when he realized that tomatoes are really funny when they can be wiped repeatedly along mommy’s shirt. Yes, mommy is now dirty and in need of the dry cleaners. Thank you, dear child. And when the waitress brought warm cookies and ice cream to the table for said birthday celebration – the kiddo was in his glory. Someone’s got himself a sweet tooth like mommy.

The bench, the mirror, cookies & ice cream = happy combo! (bad hair day for mom though)

*Grown-up dining chairs with seat belts just might be my strike-it-rich invention.