Screaming for our supper

No one noticed the cute little girl who ran to the front of the dining section at The Keg on Wednesday night, let out a single piercing scream, and then laughed as she ran back to her booth, right? Right?

That's what I thought.

Dining out with Madeline is usually a manageable endeavor. As long as she likes the food, and there are crayons or packets of sugar to investigate, she's good (ie. happy to sit still) for at least forty minutes at a restaurant. That's okay with me. I believe in respecting her attention span and ability to curb her urge to move, move, move; Madeline's only two, for heaven's sake. Right now Madeline is rejecting sitting in her booster here at home and highchairs at restaurants, so remaining seated through the meal is something that she's still learning, and I actually have noticed improvement this week.  The was a post on Blogging Baby earlier this week (this one here) that asked what parents do to keep their kids amused when dining out, and Chris and I have had to adapt to Madeline's level of development in this regard. For awhile, all we needed to bring was a container of Cheerios, because sticking Cheerios onto a skinny straw to make a "kebab" for her was the high of amusement when she was around a year old. We've done crayons and markers, and those little containers of playdough. My newest trick to bring out my iPod where I've downloaded several Pixar shorts, which helps to fill the time between when she's done eating, but Chris and I are not. A few of the commenters in the BB article kind of go all Sanctimommy at the idea of toting objects of amusements into restaurants because they just "talk to their children", and it really bugged me at first, but I've come to the conclusion that their kids are more Thinkers than Movers. I could engage Madeline in dinner conversation for an hour straight, but she would still want to do something physical. So, we chat and see how high she can stalk containers of cream, draw shapes, etc.

We're still allowing Madeline to learn the social rules of dining out, but we just have to go about it in a different way.

Fab "First of December" Friday Links ...

• Mitten clips! I couldn't justify buying the Snug as Bug ones, so I bid on and won a pair from eBay earlier this week. They're pretty cute, and a lot less spendy. The seller makes them herself and they're also available on her etsy site here.
• The iCrib! I'm not going to buy one, but I think it's cool. Madeline is content with her Ocean Wonders Aquarium, though I must admit that her bedtime lullabies are the most played track on my iPod! Courtesy of Parent Hacks.
• Coolest baby announcements ever: 5starbaby.

Comments

[Brandi]

Abby's a mover too. She won't sit in high chairs or boosters at restaurants either, so we always make sure to ask for a booth. That way, we can corral her between one of us and the wall. I'm constantly buying toys from the $1 section at Target to keep in my purse (I finally got rid of the diaper bag!) for when we go out to eat. Right now she's big on stickers. I'll have to buy some of those travel Play-dohs. I'm sure she'd really enjoy that.

[Jaime]

Both of the girls are movers too. Just a thought, not sure if you have tried to bring some of the farm animals or little people for their adventure to the restaurant.

[Mary P]

We practice tag-team parenting in restaurants with our wriggler. (One of the three was particularly wiggly!) Rather than expect our wiggler to sit for the entire time, we'd divvy up the wait-times. We'd place our orders, then one would take the child for a walk (this is why we went to mall restaurants a lot). When the food arrived, we'd all sit at the table together. When we'd finished our meal, one would sit and wait for the bill, while the other would take the child for a walk. Kept us sane.

The other two, they could be kept amused with crayons and toys, etc. By the time they were three, they were able to be amused by conversation, a lot of the time. But not always. Believe it or not, one is about to graduate university - even though she couldn't be amused solely by conversation when she was two...

"Sanctimommy". I love it.

[Mom101]

What an excellent asessment, movers versus thinkers. I think that's the whole problem with judgments-- you just can't apply your own parenting choices to another kid unless you know the kid. While our daughter is pretty well-behaved as far as 17 months old go, nothing like a board book or a straw or a fork (yes, a fork) to keep her happy. And in the end, wouldn't the other diners in the restaurant prefer a happy quiet kid looking at a Pixar video than a screaming, ranting toddler?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

[julie]

laura... you must be busy because you haven't blogged in awhile. I miss you.

[John]

Well, I think I was a thinker as a kid, but I still needed plenty of crayons and things to keep me busy. Sounds like exactly the right way to go.