So once a year on National Pancake day IHOP gives away a free short stack of pancakes. And we try to go every year! This year we brought along some friends. (Mostly because Juice had a meeting and wasn’t sure if he was going to make dinner…he did in time to pay for the orange juice and cut up Pirate’s pancakes.)
Since Butterfly was occupied with her best friend Vinny and her drawing,
that left Professor to me.
In all his happy glory.
I spent most of the dinner alternately hugging, fighting, and feeding that boy. It’s a good thing I love him!
And that’s all that’s on my ipod touch this week! Go see what everyone is looking at!
This week’s question on the Multiples and More site is all about eating out.
How do you handle taking your multiples out to restaurants?
How often do you take your children out to eat, and how old are they?
We go out to eat fairly often. Oddly enough. Mostly we eat lunch out because we tend to be running errands at around lunch time. My boys are 2 and my oldest is 5.
Do you have any tricks for keeping them entertained?
Order fast! If there is a wait, we ask for a menu and decide while we wait. I have a bunch of toys in the diaper bag that only come out if we’re waiting for something. We also spend our time people watching (and talking about, kind of a bad habit but it keeps Butterfly [5] entertained) and coloring things. We also spend a lot of the waiting time picking up the crayons. I used to bring little snacks for them to munch on before the food came but I found that they wouldn’t eat the food the waiter brought.
Which restaurants do you find are the most family-friendly?
The most family friendly places I’ve found have been either the 24 hour places (Denny’s, IHOP, Village Inn) are the best places to eat. Also, buffets are great because the kids can have jello! Ice cream! Raisins! for dinner.
How do you handle tantrums in restaurants?
I take the tantruming child out. We either sit in the waiting area (sometimes a change of scenery helps) or we go outside completely. If the tantruming child does not calm down in the specific time I pick, then I take him/her back inside and let the other adult know that we will be in the car, come out as soon as possible. Even if I haven’t finished my dinner. And even if we haven’t even gotten our food! I find that restaurants are very forgiving and will happily box up your uneaten meal if you need to go.
Do you ever venture out to restaurants without having extra adults to help out?
Yes, actually I have! It’s NOT easy. I plan on not eating much, and leaving as soon as possible. It’s gotten easier as the kids have gotten older. I imagine it will continue to get easier.
Do you think it’s better to take your kids out to restaurants, and get them used to the experience, or refrain from eating out until they are old enough to understand the right way to behave?
I think this is a matter of personal preference. We have been taking Butterfly to restaurants since she was a baby and she is a great little patron. She can even order her own food and drink and is very polite to the waiter. It’s super cute to see her say, “I’d like a hot dog and some milk please!” I hope the boys become just as good of patrons as she is!
Be honest- do you pick up the cheerios?
Sometimes. If it’s a fast place like Panera Bread, I’ll pick them up. If I’m in a hurry or we have to leave in a rush, I won’t pick them up. I will do a sweep before we leave if the restaurant has been really helpful. If the restaurant has been horrible, honestly I won’t pick up. I figure they have to earn their tip somehow!
Eating out with little kids is rough. Eating out with multiples is even harder! Eat early (before the big rushes…4:30pm or 5pm is great!) and eat fast.
Take your newly turned 2 year old to a restaurant to celebrate his birthday.
Tonight we decided that we would go out and celebrate the boys turning 2 (again…it’s been a weekend of celebration) and go to dinner. Now dining out with 3 little kids is always an adventure. This one did not disappoint. We took the family to the same place we took Butterfly to celebrate her 2nd birthday. It’s a fun little steak place called Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse. They have good food and are very kid friendly. They also have animatronic animals that talk and move there! Butterfly barely ate when she turned 2, and the boys were no exception.
Entrance them with animatronics of woodland creatures.
We sat right underneath the huge talking Bill the Buffalo. I had Professor next to me who did not move a muscle the whole time we were waiting for food. I could see him looking around suspiciously, without moving his head. First, a fish moved. All the kids jumped and stared at the thing flopping around on the wall. Then a raccoon jumped out of a barrel. Professor pointed it out (the other kids had their backs to it) and just sat there pointing. And then the buffalo started to talk.
Watch them jump as the buffalo head above them started to talk.
The first time he started to chat with us, both boys stiffened up and then bolted into our laps. Butterfly just laughed. We were trying to order food at that point and it was pretty comical to the waiter to see their reactions. They sat in our laps the whole rest of the time. Pirate would not let Juice take his arm from around him. The moose on the other side of the room was cause for concern as well, but mostly the talking buffalo.
Encourage talking to the moving woodland creatures to try and alleviate fear.
This meant that Juice and I were waving to the raccoon in the barrel and responding to the buffalo head. Butterfly got a kick out of it. The boys still looked at them suspiciously. Professor would stop whatever his was doing and watch the raccoon. He even paused with a spoonful of macaroni and cheese to his mouth to watch it look around.
Switch kids. Get poked in the eye. Have to take someone away from the table for time out.
By the end of the meal, I had Pirate and Juice had Professor and Butterfly. They give out ice cream cups as part of their kids’ meals so the kids were enjoying some ice cream. Pirate wanted to do it himself. Fine. But then the fish started to flop around again and he flung the spoon, full of ice cream, right at me. Luckily the ice cream did not come off the spoon. But I grabbed his hand just to be sure. Then he and I started struggling to gain control over the spoon. I see the ice cream start to slip off the side. I eat the ice cream. There was a huge scream and a flinging back with the hand I just let go of. The one with the spoon. Then the spoon hit me in the eye. Pirate started screaming louder. We left the table mid fit. The entire restaurant was watching us go. I heard, “That kid has some lungs!” and “Listen to that banshee wail!” as I was exiting.
Sit with child in time out in the waiting area. Have him jump back into your arms because of a moving owl. Decide it’s time to go home.
I put him on a stool and told him to calm down. I sat down on the bench next to him and counted to ten. He and I looked at each other and smiled. Then the owl moved. I swear he launched himself into my arms so fast he broke the sound barrier. Time to go, I think.
Get in car. Look at husband. Laugh and shake your heads.
Seriously I don’t know why we do these things to ourselves but we do. Butterfly declared it the best meal ev-ah and wants to go there for her birthday dinner. I think we can handle another round there! Maybe.
Butterfly and Lolli’s little boy, AJ, really enjoyed eating pancakes out for preschool. We have such a fun time with these kids and school. I can’t believe that summer will be here in a few short weeks and then these kids will go to school. Not only will I loose Butterfly to school all day, I’ll loose my excuse to hang out with Lolli every single week. Oh we’ll still get together…never fear! Just we won’t have school to do together. I’ve enjoyed it. I think Butterfly and AJ have too.
This week was free pancake day at IHOP. Yummy! We had juice and free pancakes. And all the syrup you can eat. Which, is apparently a lot for Pirate. Check it out:
Still it was an enjoyable morning out and free food!
That evening we also went out for dinner (a rarity for us but Juice was dead set on doing some fundraiser) at a diner. Between Butterfly crawling on the floor and getting in major trouble, the food taking forever, the check taking even longer, and Professor dumping his dinner in my lap not once, not twice, but three whole times, I made the declaration that we are never. eating. out. again. Ever.
Luckily I came to my senses and Butterfly apologized for her behavior. Besides, eating out is one of my favorite things. I’d hate to give it up forever.
But after Tuesday, I may not want to eat out for a long long long time. At least, until Juice’s birthday next month.
Safire
PS- Easter Egg Roll tickets are open for all you locals! Lottery this year. Hope we all get some tickets.
I love Juice’s job. I just hate it when they send him away. Sure he’s working and earning money and all that jazz but he’s not up until almost midnight picking things up, then up with small children for HOURS in the night, then back up with them for the day and expected to function! He sleeps in a hotel. By himself. He eats every single meal out. He speaks to adults all day long and looks at cool toys. He comes home with swag. He gets to read his book for hours uninterrupted in the airplane.
Can I please have a business trip?!
Seriously, today was fine. We had school over here today so Butterfly had someone to play with. It’s F week and Butterfly and AJ played “Go Fish” for over an hour. Awesome education they are getting, let me tell you! They also colored firetrucks and fish. We read 3 F books, including one on Father Christmas. Then we had a very long question and answer session about Father Christmas and what he does and how parents are involved. Mostly I told them that parents are able to talk to Santa and let them know what the kids want. Butterfly really wanted to know if we stayed up to help Santa eat the doughnuts we leave him. I told her if we’re not tired, we might. By the end of the talk, they were both wide eyed and talking about the toys they want. Butterfly informed me today that she wants a Rainbow Bright doll. Do they even make those anymore?
I have 2 more presents to buy for Christmas and then I am done. Things are traveling to people as we speak. There is no Rainbow Bright doll in there though. I think she’ll hopefully be so happy with her presents that she won’t remember. I can dream, right?!
Tonight’s takeout for us was pizza. I could not convince Butterfly that we should have Chinese food. I was sad! I was also sad that Professor pulled the box off the table and dumped half the pizza on the floor. Soot pounced on some of it and ended up with 2 whole pieces…lucky dog.
I did have one crazy thing I did today. I’m enjoying getting some free rentals out of the DVD rental place here in town. I decided that I needed another movie to watch and took all 3 kids to the store at dinner time to get one. Mommy needs some pampering too. If it’s a free movie that she can only keep for a day, so be it!
I ended up talking to my Mom for the evening which was nice! She has to pick out her vacations for next year by next week so I’ve got some deciding to do. Plus, I’m going to be an aunt again! Cappy is going to be a big brother! Yay!
They also colored firetrucks and fish. We read 3 F books, including one on Father Christmas. Then we had a very long question and answer session about Father Christmas and what he does and how parents are involved. Mostly I told them that parents are able to talk to Santa and let them know what the kids want. Butterfly really wanted to know if we stayed up to help Santa eat the doughnuts we leave him. I told her if we’re not tired, we might. By the end of the talk, they were both wide eyed and talking about the toys they want. Butterfly informed me today that she wants a Rainbow Bright doll. Do they even make those anymore?