Sitting 'Round the Dinner Table
Does anyone still practice the ancient art of sitting ‘round the table and eating dinner together as a family?
Well, we do. Some days, most days, it is an act of perseverance on our part. Our part being my husband and me. We are a team and it is us against them with the battle lines clearly drawn.
We sit down to a dinner that I actually prepare myself, nothing frozen. No cheating, thank you. Suddenly, it's "let the games begin". My 17-month-old son starts squealing at an octave that could break glass and throwing objects I carefully lay in front of him. This, of course, sets off a riot of laughter from my two older children who wind up encouraging him to do more. This is a cause and effect he very much enjoys and repeats often.
For some reason, my middle child is physically unable to sit through a meal. I mean, she absolutely could not do it if she were tied to the chair. I do believe she would only chew through her restraints. She certainly has it in her. I suspect that instead of blood there is a large colony of ants racing through her veins which causes her to be in non-stop motion.
My oldest daughter notices everything... missing nothing. She inserts herself here and there with the brown-nosing ability comparable to a self-promoting politician. I can almost hear her saying “that’s a lovely house coat you’re wearing Mrs. Cleaver.” This is worsened only when she notices the attention her younger sister gets.
PLUS, there’s nothing quite like having to force your child to eat something you’ve worked really hard to put together, only to have her gag it up on her plate and tell you it’s disgusting and she’d rather go to bed than eat it. Even my toddler who still doesn’t speak seems to sense this and jump in with both feet, enthusiastically shaking his head "no" and waving his arms in front of him. FINE! No problem. I will not reduce myself to another second of this, I think to myself. I begin clearing the table, thus signaling the end of this evening’s festivities. Not to be outdone, my toddler almost always wraps things up with an explosion of air from both ends. The plastic in his high chair a nice compliment to his personal acoustics…. I love my life.