Mealtime with a Baby Bunch is hectic, to say the least. In the very early days, the biggest challenge is timing. Everyone's hungry at once (and always RIGHT NOW), and they all require special, individually prepared foods (whether breast/bottled/pureed/cut up in minuscule bites for Bunch or baked/broiled/grilled/sauteed for adults). Mealtime itself can be messy, with more food ending up on the floor or in everyone's hair than in their stomachs. Add that to the fact that babies and toddlers eat so frequently that one meal often blurs into the next, and merely keeping your Bunch nourished keeps you busy all day. I wish I could say it gets easier as they get older. And it may yet, but at 4 1/2 and almost 6 (plus the toddling Caboose), my Bunch STILL gives me a run for my money at mealtime.
I actually pride myself on not catering to the demands of picky children from a cooking standpoint. We eat real, adult meals (i.e. not chicken nuggets every night), I make one meal per night (typically accompanied by a neutral item that I know everyone will eat, such as applesauce), and people can either eat it or not. So I've successfully managed to avoid the short-order cook role, but the food preparation specifications and service timing keep me hopping like a waitress, especially on the nights hubby isn't around (which is most weeknights).
This person only drinks water, that one only drinks milk. Certain milk drinkers take skim and others whole - the water drinkers are divided between ice and no ice. They prefer their sandwich bread either toasted or not, some with strawberry jelly and some with grape - some want creamy and others prefer crunchy. One will only eat cantaloupe, while his brother prefers pineapple. The third likes bananas, but not if they are too mushy. The oldest will only eat fruit, while the middle will eat most vegetables. The baby won't touch corn or peas, but adores tomatoes. One boy likes his pizza cut up, the other whole, one likes his taco rolled up and the other prefers it grilled and flattened like a quesadilla.
As I line up the plates and dole out the standardized food that is then customized to exact specifications in the hopes that some of it will actually be CONSUMED, my Bunch is typically knocking over the drinks I've pre-poured, dropping the clean silverware I've carefully laid out on the table onto the dirty floor, tipping over their chairs, or poking eye, nose, and tongue holes in their paper napkins.
Once I get the food on the table, it's a race to squeeze in the blessing before everyone begins devouring their food before I even sit down. Typically, at this point, someone has realized that I've forgotten to serve/cut/add condiments to something and I jump up to retrieve the item. By the time I've returned and sat down to my own food, at least one person has finished the neutral item and wants seconds. By the time I dish that up, the second person needs more drink. By the time I get that, the baby has flipped his plate onto the floor. It's no wonder I often find myself hungry at 10 o'clock at night. It's been almost six years since I've had a real, complete meal sitting down on a regular basis because I'm working three meals a day plus snacks, 7 days a week, most weeks of the year.
Now, lest you think I'm some hapless mother without a backbone that allows her children to behave like wild heathens at the dinner table, I assure you that we have our fair share of children mopping up their own messes, being sent to time-out on the stair for refusal to eat or participate in family conversation (however disjointed it may be among the chaos), and clearing their plates at the end of the meal. It's an ongoing training process, and I'm determined that one day we will dine in harmony like human beings instead of like a pack of wolves accompanied by their indentured servant.
And once in awhile, they actually toss out a gem of insight into their days during our nightly game of "Sad, Glad or Mad" (where each person has to tell one thing that happened during their day to make them feel each way). And that, my friends, is why the family meal is worth all the hassle. A little "I was glad when Mommy played Candyland with me" is worth more than the biggest tip in the world. Even if it is followed by "I was sad when mommy made a sickening dinner AGAIN."
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Posted by: aaMia | Feb 04, 2010 at 12:01 PM
We do a nightly family meal too. Right now it is pretty easy (the eating part, anyway, getting it ready during the sometimes five o'clock fussies, not so much)... the toddler needs whatever it is cut up, and the baby just plays with some rice or diced green beans or the like. I do generally hop up two or three times because I've forgotten things, though.
I remember when my three younger brothers were 2, 3, and 4. You could count on a glass of milk going over during dinner without fail. It was totally inevitable. We eventually got used to it... right before they all developed hand eye coordination... ;)
Posted by: Natalie | Feb 04, 2010 at 01:08 PM
This is a great post!
Growing up one of my moms (who was also a baby buncher) favorite sayings was, "I'm not running a restaurant here." I find myself saying the same thing to my guys if they whine that they don't like what we are having.
I hear you on the hot meal. I actually weigh less than I did before I had children!
Posted by: sahmCFO | Feb 04, 2010 at 08:21 PM
I think I get up a MINIMUM of 7 times at each meal. Mostly to get something I've forgotten out of the kitchen. Luckily my 2 year old eats anything without a fuss and my 8 1/2 month old is still eating baby food, so that isn't an issue. What makes this little up and down dance I do at every meal even more fun is how my baby is going through some serious seperation anxiety and starts sobbing every time I walk away from her (even if I'm just going 10 feet away into the kitchen)
Posted by: kelly | Feb 04, 2010 at 09:06 PM
After doing the table bop, we made a rule that if it wasnt on the table, we weren't using it. Now that the kids are used to it, and I put food on the table, I generally get to eat with my family as opposed to doing my impression of a jack-in-the-box. The few times that we've forgotten the ketchup, or butter for bread, have been uuuuuugaleeeee! but now the kids are more motivated to help get the table ready. Which I am all for.
Posted by: Sierra | Feb 05, 2010 at 07:12 AM