Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Friday Mom – Erin:
Before Rory arrived, my husband and I ate out once or twice each weekend, sometimes more. Our social lives consisted of meeting friends for brunch, lunch, drinks, or dinner. When we found out we were expecting, we vowed not to let our growing family keep us from enjoying dinners out.

Despite that promise, after two attempts early in Rory’s life, I broke that promise. We had two large-group dinners when Rory was seven and eight weeks old, respectively. Each time, I spent the bulk of dinner staring at the car seat anxiously waiting for him to start crying. Each time, at least a portion of the group arrived 30 minutes late. Each time, we had to politely excuse ourselves early (after leaving cash to cover our portion of the check). Each time, I arrived home feeling taxed and stressed out.

This past weekend, we decided to change that. On Friday night, the three of us had an early dinner at our favorite neighborhood restaurant. We arrived early, asked to be seated somewhere out of the way, and ordered quickly. The quiet din of the restaurant lulled Rory to sleep shortly after we arrived, and we made it most of the way through our meals before he woke up. I was able to relax and enjoy a pleasant conversation with my husband, rather than worry the entire time.

On Sunday, we decided to press our luck and headed out to brunch at another local restaurant. We were not quite as lucky this time. We ordered quickly, but Rory stayed awake the entire meal. I had to change him halfway through my meal, and my husband had to hold him for the remainder. He was quiet once we got him out of the car seat. He really enjoyed watching all the other restaurant patrons, and we enjoyed watching him soak it all in. Our Sunday brunch was more hurried than our Friday dinner, but Rory was still very well behaved.

Getting two reasonably successful dining excursions under our belt has bolstered my confidence. This past weekend helped me realize how much my own stress (or lack thereof) colors our whole family’s dining experience. Moving forward, I will continue working on not letting Rory’s presence overwhelm me so that I can enjoy our meals out. After all, it sure beats having to cook!

From Friday Mom – Jaime:
As you’re reading this, I’m in Colorado Springs. My boys were supposed to be in Maine, but the threat of the impending hurricane kept them in Jersey for the weekend. And I’m really hoping that I’ll actually be able to make it back into town on Saturday night (since that’s exactly when the hurricane is supposed to hit).

Andrew got to experience his first earthquake this week. Yeah, I know. Everyone who isn’t on the east coast is sick to death about us whining about a little earthquake. I slept through the last quake in Jersey and was more than a little freaked out when my office started swaying back and forth. But my next thought immediate went to whether Andrew was okay.

Before I could pick up the phone and call daycare to check on him, I had an email from them telling everyone not to panic. “Everything is fine. Actually, all the kids are still napping.”

So we’ve had lots of disasters this week. Both of the nature variety and the temper variety… My kid is three and has the attitude of a defiant teenager. He is convinced he knows it all and isn’t afraid to tell you that, at every single opportunity.

We’ve clashed pretty badly this week. Over bedtime. Over getting dressed in the morning. Over eating. (You know, us wanting him to, him not wanting to) It’s pretty stressful when everything becomes a battle. Then with absolutely no warning, he’ll slip back into his sweet, caring self.

Here’s hoping to a disaster free weekend…or at least keeping those disasters to a minimum!