When Hudson was an infant, TC and I avoided taking him restaurants as best we could. We didn’t accept invitations to get together with friends and bring Hudson. He was on a great schedule, but wasn’t the most content child when it came to sitting still in his infant seat in a restaurant.
I always figured that the other diners in the restaurant were hoping to enjoy their meal when they went out that night and I didn’t need to ruin that by bringing my discontent baby there to scream.
Meal time out at restaurants with Hudson was also not so much fun for TC and me. We couldn’t spend a whole lot of time talking to each other because we were both focused on keeping Hudson happy and by the time we left to go home, we were exhausted. It was just always easier and much more relaxing to eat at home
Now that Hudson has gotten so good at entertaining himself with books and is eating table food, we’ve been able to do the restaurant thing a lot more often. It still gets a little stressful and I know our time limit is tight and I can’t keep him in the high chair for too long without expecting him to get irritated and loud.
I also know that there are days when I already know that Hudson and restaurants aren’t going to mix well. Somedays are better for just staying at home and working through the bad mood/tiredness.
Last week, though, Hudson made it to a lot of restaurants.
My girlfriends all got together on Friday for lunch and I brought Hudson along. It was a birthday lunch, so chocolate cupcakes were involved. Hudson loves cupcakes, but his little grabby hands made their way to the chocolate icing before I could break him off a little piece. There was chocolate icing all over him. His hands, his face, his mouth, his shirt, his legs even! What a mess!
While the pizza lunch with the chocolate cupcake mess was fun, we ended up rushing out of the restaurant as quickly as we could.
The next night, TC and I decided to have a fun little family supper at a local deli. Hudson was very well-behaved and I have a feeling that it had something to do with having his Daddy there.
Even with toys, the fun sticky place mat, and lots of finger foods to keep him occupied, Hudson still has the occasional trip to a restaurant that gets a little loud. And that makes me want to crawl under the table– or get out of there as quickly as possible!
How do your kids do at restaurants? Do you enjoy going out to eat or do you prefer to play it safe and stay home as a family?
In other news… The Naturally Caffeinated Family came to visit us for a couple of days and we had the best visit. I just love their boys and spending time with their family. Hudson loved playing with the boys and TC and I had fun playing Nertz with the Mrs. and Mr. We can’t wait to visit them soon!
My 2-year-old niece is THE LOUDEST CHILD EVER! We take her out to places, and she disturbs everyone. But she is so cute that it’s okay.
What great pictures!! Completely cracking up over the chocolate cupcakes. The boy knows what’s g o o d 🙂 Aunnie hugs to the Hud!
Molly goes to bed so early, it’s hard to get us all out to eat for dinner so we mostly stick to breakfast or lunch. She good for the most part but we do stay pretty busy trying to keep her entertained! She loves attention though so if people start talking to her or waving, that keeps her happy!
I LOVE that last picture of Hudson with the other kiddos, it looks like he’s saying, “um what is this other baby doing in my chair.”
I believe Hudson is saying, “What are YOU doing in my chair?”
pretty much love the cupcake picture… cate loves her some cupcakes and cake! Hasn’t been allowed to go after one yet but oh that day is fast approaching:)
I also love the pictures of Huddy and the boys! So JEALOUS!! Looks like oh so much fun!
We have always taken our little ones out to dinner with us. Grace, who is almost 3, is usually pretty good. She can have her moments though, for sure. We usually go places that we know it is ok to be kinda loud, or places that are not very busy. This past Sunday, for example, we went to our favorite place for lunch and hit right after the lunch crowd, so it was not very busy at all. Thankfully though, she was very well behaved anyway. Jack, who will be one in October, is loving the high chair, and toy time when we go out. We are very thankful for good outings! 🙂
One thing that my mom did once when we were going out with her to dinner, was to bring along a mini dvd player to occupy her time when we were in a fancier place. She had her favorite movie, and she was enthralled the entire time! Now, i know a lot of parents are against letting a DVD player babysit their kids(and trust me… I would not normally do this), but if it kept her from making a scene on several different occasions, I didn’t mind. I was very thankful for my quick thinking momma! 🙂
We take Levi out with us a couple times a week. He has always done really well with it, but lately when he’s done, he’s DONE and wants OUT of the high chair. I think it’s harder now than it ever has been, but usually as long as he has food, he’s good to go! Cute pix of Hud! 🙂
Love the pic of Hudson and NCF’s boys!! What cutie pies. Makes me miss you both!
Such cute photos!
So cute! Noticed you changed from “baby” to “toddler!” It’s a big step but a great one! It only gets better from here, if you can imagine!
Since my Hudson was in the hospital for the first 18 days of his life as soon as he was out we took him everywhere with us. He would just sleep in his carseat while we ate, sometimes I would have to rock the carseat but other than that he never made a peep. As we approach 17 months he is still very good at restaurants but we do have a time limit and I always try to be home before bedtime so we stay on schedule!
We have always taken Laura out with us as much as possible. It helps that she’s a really easy, quiet baby. But we wanted to get her used to behaving in public early on. We do try to choose noisy, kid-friendly restaurants, so if she does get a little loud she won’t be disruptive!
Those restaurant pics are too cute! We also find that most of the time we eat so fast at restaurants, to make sure the littles are taken care of, that we either forgot what we ate or couldn’t savor the yummy food, hehe. We had SO much fun visiting you all! We cannot wait for ya’ll to come visit!!
Sometimes my son does great while we are out to eat, and other times we rush out as quickly as possible. One of the last restaurant trips, we were seated at a booth, and our son was in a high chair on the end – out in the high traffic zone. At one point, we noticed that he was looking around at all the people around us with his finger stuck way up his nose! What a great moment to learn how to pick his nose! It was hilarious and embarassing at the same time.
Hudson is such a cutie and let me say thank you -It’s good to hear that you at least care about disturbing other diners around you because there are lots of people who obviously do not and that is a major pet peeve of mine. There is nothing worse than trying to enjoy a nice dinner out and have some enjoyable conversation only to not even be able to hear the person across the table from you because there is someone letting there child/baby scream bloody murder. I am a parent and I am also a considerate person and I would never allow my child to scream without trying to console them or removing them from the dining area and I also wouldn’t let my child run around between tables playing in the dining area… Where has people’s consideration for other’s gone? And honestly it makes it worse to see a parent smile or laugh and think it’s cute or funny…. because it’s not!
@ Jesslee: Some children have to stand or walk around a table because it is what keeps them quiet. They may not be able to sit in a chair because of being figity. I’d prefer to see a child walking around than listen to him/her whining or yelling at the table.
Maybe lots of people tell you this since I know you have a ton of readers, but I can’t tell you how much Hudson and my Josiah are similar! I think in the picture with his daddy, Hudson’s in the same cute little teal striped Gymboree outfit Josiah has 🙂 Anyway, restaurants are always… an adventure! Josiah loves to eat, so if I keep the food coming, we’re golden, but he also likes people to hear him… so he will make happy sounds… LOUD happy sounds and I find myself shoving in more food to try to quiet him! LOL… we try to stick to noisy, kid-friendly spots that I used to hate before, but I now have a new-found appreciation for them! 🙂
cute pictures!
I used to feel the same way about taking Jack out, but when he was around 6-8 mo old, we just started taking him out and dealing with it. I think he must have been unusually quiet b/c I have had many people make a point to tell me how well behaved he was (even on planes- and he def cried, so maybe they just told me that b/c of the stressed out look on my face!) As he was able to eat more table food, it worked out great for us b/c since my dh is such a fast eater, he would quickly finish and be the baby keeper while I ate. They always sit on the same side together and me by myself(This works VERY well). in the beginning, it was just so I could eat before the food was cold(b/c I always ate last at home). Now we still do it and it works great. Jack is now 2.5 yrs and I def stress more, b.c he is more willful now and cannot be easily appeased! He can be loud! thank goodness for colors at the table! I will say that taking him out by myself (to meet friends, etc) is VERY stressful without DH help.
To Jesslee, I think most parents care about disturbing others, but it is not always easy. Dif. children have dif. temperments and most people are just doing the best they can. I hate being in that situation, too, sometimes you just can’t help it.
I think it’s a good thing to bring kids to restaurants and to teach them how to behave while there. It’s the parents that let their little darlings run around, scream at the top of their lungs and just generally make a fuss for no good reason that give the rest of the young parents a bad name. I will admit that I cringe every time I am seated next to a family with young children but will always compliment the ones that are well behaved. One huge pet peeve is the mess that some kids make and the parents leave for the restaurant workers to clean up.
oh,and here’s a tip someone gave me that’s made it easier for us- Always ask for the check as soon as your food arrives. That way, you can leave when you need to!
I was the same way when Avalon was younger – I didn’t even bother to try the restaurant thing because I knew better than that! She was crazy! But now it’s usually okay and not too big of a deal – however, I’ve noticed that lunches typically go better than dinner – I’m assuming b/c by dinnertime she’s getting more tired. Still, I think my blood pressure is always higher than normal whenever I’m in a restaurant with her!
those little boys are precious! i have no advice for you-no babies yet-but my dog is a mess in a drive through window! ha! she barks and tries to lunge out the car at the people-especially at chick-fila! i take it as my sign to quit eating fries! she’s good practice for down the road!
i have a 14 month old and have just recently decided that restaurants are out for a while. she HATES restaurant high chairs and she somehow knows how to climb out of them. so, for the sake of all involved, it’s best she not visit a restaurant right now!
I’m so jealous Hudson is getting better with age at restaurants because that is certainly not the case with my 18 month old son. He was great when he was a baby and would sit happily in his car seat. Now he throws his food, squeals, and just doesn’t want to sit still. Want to know if we’ve been to a restaurant-look on floor and if it’s covered in smooshed food, cracker crumbs, and crayons-yep that was us. For now we’ve decided that it’s just easier on us and everyone else at the restaurant if we take a break from eating out and leave that to when it’s just the two of us without the little one.
He is just the cutest thing! I’m still loving the video you posted of him saying “buh-bye” to daddy:-). Restaurant behavior can definitely be a challenge-but I’m thrilled that you’re able to get a night or two off from cooking!
What a face in that last photo? “What is that kid doing in my chair?!?”
Oooo! I love nertz!! So fun. Glad you had a good time with NCF 🙂
Evie is hit or miss! I need to get a few toys to take out only in restaurants. She loves her Magna Doodle and will snack all day. However, she fills up on snacks and then does not want to eat or meal wich means she goes nuts! All kids are different. Evie was horrible as a baby in a restaurant but now she is a lot better. It still makes me crazy though so we try to go without her our go SUPER early like 5:00 kind of early.
Let me second what Jesslee wrote! Thank you to all of the parents who are considerate of others!
I am like you in that I have to “feel out” how I think she will do in a restaurant. There are days I just know it isn’t a good idea. I enjoy eating out but it is really stressful on me and I feel like I have to bring my bag of tricks along to keep her occupied. If it is a nice day, she seems to do better outside. I am so glad I’m not the only one!
Thank you for being so considerate to other diners. I am one of those people who HATE it when I child screams the entire dinner and the parents don’t take them out. How totally inconsiderate. However, a LOUD child does not bother me. Laughing, talking, making noises, etc is completely fine. Adults do that too. As long as the child is happy I don’t think people even notice, except maybe to notice that it’s a super cute baby!!
I’m not a huge fan of restaurants with my kids either, but we are totally outnumbered so of course it’s going to be challenging. My four boys are ages 7, 5, 2 1/2 and 10 months. YIKES! However, I do think it’s good to take them in restaurants every so often just so they know how they’re SUPPOSED to act. If they get really crazy, though, we take them out to the car until they can control themselves. The threat of that happening is usually enough to get them back in line. I also try to go to more “family friendly” restaurants so that if they are talking loudly it just blends in with the background noise.
Another good tip is have the server bring the child’s food a few minutes before you get yours. That gives you time to cut it up and have the child already eating by the time you get your hot, fresh food. A nice waitress suggested that to us once and now it’s what we always request.
My boys have always been really good in restaurants. We have been taking them out to eat since they were infants. I think it helps if you work on the behavior and manners at home so when they go out they know the expectation. We often go out to eat with my parents so there were usually two extra adults to help out. I think you are very wise to know his limits and not push them. I think that’s what goes wrong with so many people when running errands and dining out. Use common sense and plan those activities when you know your child will be in good spirits. I don’t AT ALL agree with the people who ignore their screaming or ill behaved kids, because why should everyone else have to suffer? It’s funny because when we go out without the boys I don’t want to sit anywhere near anyone with kids. LOL I will say that we often get compliments on how well behaved our boys are when we dine out, but they have been trained since little to be on their best behavior.
Look at those cute little boys!!
E’s always been really good at restaurants. Till now. Now she needs constant entertaining and while she’s still well behaved, I’m tired because of keeping her happy. And I hardly get to eat! I have a feeling we’ll be eating at home more now…