June 2008 Weddings
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Toddler Mommas
How do you keep your kiddo(s) entertained at restaurants? Coloring only works for, oh, about 1 minute.
(We are going out with a big group from Dan's old work next week and I'm a little bit worried that N is going to be the devil, haha).
Re: Toddler Mommas
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Portable DVD player
Seriously.....the kid will sit for a short period of time, but then he just wants to run around. Sometimes the only thing that really works is putting a movie on for him.
I hate, and love, this idea all at the same time.
Our solution is to just not go out, and it sucks, but the boy can not be controlled in that enviornment. However, that up there, may just work.
Definitely taking into consideration of what works for you all. For us, it depends on the day. We find he becomes a devil child around dinner, the kid is just so exhausted from the day.
In fact, we went to PF Changs tonight, and we could barely control him. We tried coloring (lasted for 2 seconds then he chucked them), straws and chopsticks (lasted a bit longer then he was using them like weapons), he ate a little so that worked for a bit, and then playing with random hats/playing games/etc. It was eventful.
GL Tiff, hope you can come up with something!
Our crazy, wonderful life
Haven't tried it at the restaurant but the DVD player is now a MUST for long trips after our recent Thanksgiving travel experience.
This is Alex too. We just don't go out for sit down dinners unless it's a place she can be loud and move around (Pizza Hut, Friendly's, etc.). I've tried bringing toys that she forgot about, hoping they'd entertain her, but it lasts 2 minutes tops. Food doesn't really interest her for long, especially at dinner time. And if she were with a big group, she'd be putting on a show and be even worse.
GL, I really hope you find something that can work for you.
My boring blog
Big group dinner sounds tough since a lot may be out of your hands (food takes longer for a group, etc). The DVD may work but I also see your H's point (and we agree) that it then becomes something they want every time. Like, we have DVD in our car and we've never done it for her. Not until a long trip when we NEED it, kwim?
Anyway, what we do is (1) Go to the same places all the time so they know us, we know them and we know she can be a little loud (2) We go out all the time - at least once a weekend - to keep her used to it (3) I order as soon as we sit and also bring food from home since she tends to do two bites and done. I always do goldfish or cheerios in one of those cups they kind of have to "work" to get them out of. That lasts a while. (4) old toys that only live in the diaper bag and she only sees then (5) then we just people watch and talk to her "Is that man wearing a hat? can you say Hat?." Rinse. Repeat. (6) Sit in a booth if you can.
If it's too long she wants to get down and we don't let her but we sometimes let her out of the highchair and into the booth with us (on the inside) where she can stand, play peek a boo with others, etc.
I agree with DVD player, and feeling like they will want it all the time. The only time we've used one is when we borrowed one from a friend for the 10 hour car ride to South Carolina.
It was great for the initial 10 hour haul, but it made the rest of the trip misserable because any time we got in the van it was "FISHIES!" (finding nemo) and he wouldn't take no for an answer.
Good thing was we were in a rental so he never was able to associate it with one of our cars.
I agree with all this. The only time Jack has used the DVD player in the car is when we went on a 2+ hour trip. Regular car trips, even longer ones up to 2 hours, we don't use a DVD player. And like Trickey, we usually just don't bring him to restaurants, b/c it's just easier that way. But, if there is someplace we really want/need to go, the DVD player is a good backup - although we have only had to use it twice. It's like our Hail Mary =P