We don't go out that much with Pixie. When she was a baby she always stayed in the carrier and since I preferred to carry her in the front I had to get used to eating while she was on me. That is defiantly a challenge, but it is nothing compared to what we are facing now. A very curious toddler with a short attention span.
When she decided that she doesn’t want to stay in the carrier while we eat, I took her out from the carrier, but she was sitting in my lap, or my husband’s. We took turns between eating and entertaining Pixie. She was so used to being always with us, a baby seat wasn’t an option. From time to time she wanted to try it but she wanted to get out immediately.
Now she wants her own chair and no way she will sit in my lap. She copies mum and dad. And it’s always nice and peaceful for a short time. But soon she gets bored and wants to get out, play, explore the restaurant.
We definitely don’t try to go out with her to fancy places. We rather search for family-friendly restaurants. I always have her little fork with us, because she loves to eat with it and she is much better with it than with normal sized cutleries.
Since she likes to draw when she starts to get bored giving her some paper and a pen can be a solution.
We went to a great place at Budapest, called Paletta. They had baby chairs, the comfy ones from Ikea and they had a table mat for kids with the instructions how to fold a boat or a hat from the paper. Since Pixie is still small we just asked our waiter to bring her a pen and she will still have fun with her table mat. And she loved it.
We don’t really order food for her, it’s difficult to know what would she really eat. So we just share our food with her, and she can just eat what she wants from our plate.
This time the restaurant was so nice, they brought her her own plate with some rice and bread. Yes, this is her comfort food ☺ but she tried my fish and my husband’s fried cheese as well, but only a few bites.
She was occupied with drawing and eating for a while but obviously, she wanted to get out and run around in the restaurant. I took her with me to the bathroom, gaining some time but after that, she was very active and curious to explore the place. As you can see she enjoyed being in the corner and continued drawing on a chair. But it’s not easy. I’m really glad she is an explorer and likes to run around but sometimes it’s hard.
As a last resort we could turn to YouTube and let her watch some cartoons, but we try to avoid it.
We still try to go out with Pixie time to time to see how she likes it and hoping that one day we’ll be able to have a nice family meal at a restaurant. But we’re not there yet. So we try to choose a laid-back place where the like kids and don’t mind a bit of noise or running around.
Don’t be afraid to go to restaurants, just choose wisely.