Sit Still
Aidan is not the best at eating in restaurants. You would think a little guy like him would enjoy being out and about with adults, eating big boy food and (usually) watching TV because we are in some kind of sports bar & grill.
But sometimes he can be a real terror.
- I order his food when we order our drinks so he can get a head start on making a disaster of his chair and the floor beneath it.
- I let him try new foods only to watch him spit it out.
- He does the table-sweep with both arms and utensils go flying.
- He will let out a steady, semi-loud noise with mouth open and eyes closed – not so much that it’s a yell, but just enough to annoy neighboring tables.
As a method of distraction, I slowly transition from toys, cars, trucks, buses – to books – to the iPad. I try to wait as long as possible to break out the iPad because even with that his attention span is quite short. I’ll usually wait until my food comes so that there is new-ness with the device and it buys me time to wolf down my food.
I’ve made the mistake early on of letting him have a sip of my water from the straw. He’s a cool customer for the first sip, leading you down the path to thinking you can look away and let him enjoy holding the cup on his own. Then he decides to throw the straw away and take a big boy sip with ice crashing all over his face.
I may have let him have a couple sips of my caffeine-free diet coke. The look on his face was priceless. Not only was he a fan of the sugary sweet taste, but the bubbles made him laugh so hard.
As far as I’m concerned, he can do whatever he wants as long as he sits still!
