Dinner update

n Monday evening, our first family dinner, I sent a text message to Jon at 6:15: "If this is how family dinners are going to go, then I am never doing it again."

I had set dinner time for 6:30 and made sure to give filling snacks to the kids around 4:30-5:00. But the fussing, whining, leg-pulling coming from the younger two was maybe going to drive me crazy. Levi is at the stage where he can pull up and cruise, so he finds me in the kitchen, pulls up and stands holding on to my legs, and now I'm stuck. (Side note: Casey and I laughed yesterday at the shared revelation that we both sometimes "run away" from the baby while in the kitchen so he/she won't pull up on our legs.)

Thankfully, Jon arrived home at 6:30 as the plates were being served. (With a drive all the way from Long Beach with plenty of traffic, he is already making plenty of effort just trying to be home by 6:30.) And eating together was wonderful. (Levi still needs some work, but hey, he's 1. And he usually goes to bed by 7:00.) Nate even took several bites of a food he thought he would hate.

Then, after dinner (when Levi was in bed), I noticed that play time/reading time with Nate and Lucy was more fun, probably because Jon and I weren't hungry and/or trying to fix another dinner. Another wonderful benefit was that Jon's and my time after we put the kids to bed is now "free." Although eating dinner together just the two of us was pleasant, now we can have that time for other things.

Last night (Thursday) was another family dinner (we have Tuesday and Wednesday evening commitments out of the house) and it also went well, this time with only Levi fussing up a storm beforehand (instead of Levi and Lucy both). :) That's what I call progress!