Thursday, August 21, 2014

we like to eat

Sorry for the bad restaurant lighting, but that cheese smile is just too good! Bow c/o SAK threads Bracelet c/o Our Little Pretties
As I'm sitting here typing up this post at 3:30am, in the closet because Eric can't sleep through Mia's screaming and the bright computer screen, I'm wishing I would have read all the sleep training posts I came across in the last 20 months of Mia's life. She has always been the BEST sleeper until the past 5 nights and I'm about to lose my mind! Last night I decided I was going to have to let her cry it out so that she could reteach herself to self soothe (or something, I don't really know what her problem is) and she cried 20 minutes before going back to sleep, right now she's currently been crying for over an hour. Why yes! I am dying, thanks for asking! Now gimme allllll the sleep training posts before I poke my eyes out from exhaustion and frustration!  
Anyway, the whole point of that rant is for someone to tell me we will survive this, and to say that I will be reading all of your posts for future reference, in case Mia suddenly turns into a monster when we try to eat out! Overall, we've been really blessed with an easy going baby that is easy to take out in public... but I have figured out a few tips that have made life easier on all of us when we go out to eat.
  • Go to the restaurant a little earlier than normal meal times. If we show up right when Mia is used to having a plate of food in front of her, she has little to no patience for the wait time of being seated, checking out the menu, ordering, waiting for food to be brought to us, etc.
  • As soon as we are seated at our table, we buckle Mia into her hair chair instead of letting her sit on our laps. She is a lot more willing to stay in the high chair if we have her sit in it from the start.
  • Have activities to distract her during the boring time of waiting for our food. I always ask for the kids menu even if we aren't ordering one for Mia, they usually have crayons and girlfriend loves to color! I have books in my bag for back up, and our phones are last resort for distracting our impatient, bored, hungry toddler :)
  • Bring snacks. I do my best to avoid feeding Mia snacks, unless it's a pouch or baggy of fruits and veggies, because I want her to eat her meal. But if I have to choose between gold fish or a screaming toddler, I'll give her all the goldfish since we drug her to the restaurant in the first place ;) But I always do my best to be prepared with said pouch or fruits/veggies if I know we will be eating out that day!
  • Relax and don't forget that she is just a baby/toddler! It's okay if Mia spills her drink. It's okay if she doesn't eat what we ordered (because we have said snacks on hand, ha!). It's okay if she has a meltdown or 5. It's okay if everyone stares because they've all been there, or they will have kids of their own in the future and... well... karma, people. Karma ;) But seriously, just enjoy your time out and let the incidents roll off your back because you want to remember the good times out with your family over the bad!
P.S. Don't miss out on this fun giveaway!
Aug 21:  Tricks for eating out with your toddler
Aug 28:  Feeling confident as a mom (How to feel this way, Your struggle with, etc.)

11 comments:

Ashley Brickner said...

Yay for a good water, love her smile!!

Shaunacey Bonneville said...

her smile is great!
We did sleep training at around 10 months. It took about a week and she's been a pretty good sleeper since then. Until she got sick this week... I'm really hoping it doesn't cause a regression because I can't handle being kicked in my face by tiny feet much longer.
We do the same when eating out, try and go early and she's definitely in the chair some the get go or there's no getting her in it!

Chrissy@SimpleJoysBlog said...

Sorry to hear about the lack of sleep. Hopefully Mia gets past this phase fast!

Jamie @ The Jamie's + 1 said...

Bless your heart mommy, it will get better!! Hoping for a long nap time today!! :)

Kimberly said...

Why is she having a hard time sleeping all of a sudden?? Poor mama, poor Mia. Every time we go on vacation we basically have to sleep train Axel again because he doesn't understand where we are or what we're doing. But after two days of crying he's usually okay. It's so hard when you think you're kid has something nailed and then they start having struggles again. Boo.

When Olivia was an only, we went out to eat for New Years and I declared it as the very last time I ate with her in public. But of course we didn't stop because that would have cut off my social life! But I've realized practice makes perfect. And she's much better now. And axel isn't bad either! One day we went to ikea and decided to get lunch and when our meal was over I realized that I just ate out with two kids by myself!! It was a banner day :)

Emily said...

I also feel like it's important to start them young. Our family eats out a lot. It's one thing we love doing together. So our kids have been going to restaurants since they were infants. They know the rules, they know the expectations. 99% of the time they are awesome while we're at a restaurant. Sometimes I feel like people avoid going out with their kids because they are scared of the way they'll act. The longer you avoid it, the more foreign it'll be to the kid, and the more likely they are to misbehave or act out since they aren't used to the situation. Great post!

Sarah said...

lol at the Karma people Karma...so true! Sorry about the sleep thing, yea sleep regression for no apparent reason really sucks. Perhaps she's getting some molars? We tend to always blame random patterns of sleep on teeth :)

Elizabeth [Chasin' Mason] said...

Amen sister! We've all been there. I always try to distract Mason with stuff other than the phone first but often we have to resort to that when the food takes forrrrrrrever or something. Other than the waiting, Mason is great in a restaurant too! Oh and another tip... don't go anywhere nice. Go somewhere where there will be a lot of noise already and people either don't notice the screaming child or it blends right in! Ha.

Afton said...

First off, Zoe went through the no sleep phase. And I promise that it's just that. A phase. I go in every 10-15 minutes so she knows I'm still home and there for her. My heart breaks if I don't. But she will eventually get through it. Promise. I was told it was a growth spurt.

As Far as my tips for restraunts, I've learned to always look at the menu before we head out to eat. If we know what we want we can just tell the person taking our order what we're getting along with our drinks. That has made it 100% easier to eat out with Zoe.

Angie said...

Bless your heart
I hope she starts sleeping better for you VERY soon!

Lauren said...

ughh...those sleep problems are such a pain when you've had a beautifully sleeping toddler for so long! It is just a phase. Just a phase. Just a phase! But that doesn't make it any more fun when you're going through it!

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