Dads and Moms, you have to eat. And as your title would dictate, you also have a child around you that needs to eat also. How much you’re able to enjoy your time eating depends greatly on how old your child is. At certain ages they segue from willing participant to screaming audience member, food throwing ninja to gradually accepting that eating is something that they have to do too.
For the Mojo house two of our big turning points was Toddler Mojo’s first attempts at eating solid foods and one his earlier times eating out as a toddler. Toddler Mojo ate out a couple of times when he was an infant; but he was chillin in his egg shell carrier, so his memory on those trips won’t produce much.
First solid foods
We heard when a baby first eats solid food they make hysterical faces. The kind of face that they’d produce if you gave them a lemon to eat, just so they’d make a funny face so you can film it for your YouTube channel. So when the big day came and a younger Toddler Mojo was going to gnaw on mushy peas we had the video camera ready.
We had the video camera ready, ready to film him glumly swallowing a small fraction of the pale green goulash. There was no funny face, no manic baby freak out, just malcontent for the tasteless mush that was being fed to him.
I get it. At one of the baby showers we had for him there was a game called ‘Guess the flavor of Baby Food’. There were several jars of food with tiny sample spoons. The goal was to figure out what the flavor was.
Our adult taste buds are accustomed to salt, pepper and other spices. However, our experience in tasting the baby food was traumatic and foul. We should’ve brought our video camera to film those reactions; now that’s something to be placed on your YouTube channel.
Toddler Mojo will serve you now
Thankfully Toddler Mojo didn’t last too long in the mushy food phase. That meant that we can feed him real food and start taking him out to eat with us. As an ex waiter I cringe somewhat when I publically state that we’re taking a toddler out with us. Across the blogosphere I can feel other waiters cringing too; but that could be because I’m calling them waiters instead of the more PC term ‘server’.
Toddler Mojo and Mommy Mojo went out to eat recently. As the toddler has the attention span of a gnat, he ate quickly and was then distracted by the people noise and shiny lights. He was especially attracted to the doors that led back to the kitchen.
Mommy Mojo let the restless toddler out of the chair and he made a bee line for those doors. She’d go grab him, bring him back to the table and he’d do it again. He was a 20 month old boomerang that was trying to become a waiter many years before he’s called to do so.
Everybody should be a waiter at some point in their life. The lessons that you can learn from being a waiter will make you a better customer and assist you in whatever field you work in.
We’re thankful that Toddler Mojo wasn’t drafted by this restaurant to start waiting tables. They said that his demeanor was short and his speech wasn’t clear enough. We accused them of height profiling and they gave us some short cake not to take them to small claims court.
The Point
Moms and Dads need to get out. Mommy Mojo and I enjoyed a nice meal out the other week. It was a pleasure just to sit down and remind ourselves that there is still an ‘US’ there, in addition to the roles that we play at home of Mom and Dad.
The Giveaway
Our friends at Outback Steakhouse are giving away a $45 gift certificate. You can use this for a family trip out or a romantic trip with your Bride. To enter just leave a comment about your favorite Dinner with Dad moment or tell us who’ll be coming with you on your trip to Outback Steakhouse. Moms, you can enter too, just let us know your favorite dinner moment!
For kicks you can also like Outback Steakhouse on facebook and on twitter. Hint: they have coupons on those platforms…saving money is good.
Oh, if you win, that $45 gift certificate does not include alcohol, tax or tip. Tip your waiters and waitresses and it better not be some lame tip like “don’t eat the yellow snow”. Karma, my friend, karma.
Leave thy comment. You can enter until July 9 at 5:00 ET at which time we’ll randomly pick a number and they’ll be eating good. Good luck, eat well and tip generously.
Whoot. Daddy Mojo was given a $45 gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse in consideration for his time. He’ll be enjoying a quiet night out with Mommy Mojo in the near future.
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We only get dinner time together as a family on weekends due to our differing schedules, but we do all share breakfast together. I usually try to steal a sip or two of my husband’s coffee and my daughter loves to point out that I stole “two GIANT sips” and teach him tricks to keep his coffee safe. We take our coffee very seriously! Thanks for the giveaway!
It’s fun taking our 22 month old daughter out to dinner because she loves people watching.
I would take my husband b/c he’s a great Daddy! And we’ll bring our little princess along too. Love Outback! Yum.
My DD got the “shivers” after eating a spoon of peas. Guess she inherited her Mommy’s distaste for them as well. Blech!
I have to say I have a great memory of my DD eating in restaurants. She was great. I think it’s wonderful when servers take the time to be aware of kids at the table. Don’t put knives or full glasses of liquid in front of them, etc. One fab server brought my DD sliced bananas along with the bread basket. He got a nice tip. More servers should be like that one.
I would love to take my entire family to Outback! Our son is 3, so you never know what behavior you’re going to get in restaurants which is why we usually opt for takeout.
But, my best memory of my son eating out was when we took him to Benihana around 18 months old and he tried fried rice for the first time. The kid was taking fists of rice and trying to shove them into his mouth. Afterwarrds, he tried to lick up the rice on the table! Thankfully, the restaurant was really cool about the mess he made, but to see my little guy so happy about the yummy rice made me giggle.
I would love to take my husband there! We haven’t been out to eat in almost 3 months. He loves steak and I can only eat one or two bites. I have stomach issues so we have to be careful what I eat and sometimes I get so frustrated I just don’t want to go and then order and it not be what it described on the menu. Usually, my husband will order something in the fish line because we end up swapping food because the food is spicy and not what the menu said! Lord, I know we are difficult patrons, but it is not on purpose! Outback is usually one place I can go and know I will find something I can eat.
My child’s first experience with spaghetti. I have NEVER seen such a mess but he devoured it! Oh, and the time we were having birthday cake at a restaurant for my mom. My 2-year-old pointed at her piece of cake and said “I WANT THAT!”. And so it was….
With a 6-month-old, my hubby and I haven’t had a chance to go out on a real date, just the two of us. I’d love to be able to take him out to thank him for all the hard work he does for our family! We haven’t bee to Outback in years, so it would be fun to go!
demureprincess7(at)gmail(dot)com
I think I’ll skip my favorite moment with my dad (not good things there).
Honestly, I’d probably use this for just me and the husband. It’s hard for us to get out alone without the kiddos, and well, we need that time.
I’d love to take my husband to Outback Steakhouse. Since our son arrived, we don’t get to eat out as often as we did when we were dating.
My favorite dinner moment was when my husband proposed to me at a restaurant, not Outback so I won’t name it. It was pretty funny. I went to the bathroom, came back and the ring was sitting on my cell phone. He techie of us!
Well I never had a dad to go out with, but my husband is a great guy to sit and have diner with. The problem is with five kids and four of them ages from 8 yrs old to a 2 year old, we never have time for any alone time. I’d like to enjoy a quiet night out as an ode to us! I would like to create some of those memorable moments where we can laugh and talk about our kids, or maybe NOT talk about the kids! We don’t have enough of these moments because we sometimes get lost in parenthood. But at the end of the day, there is an “us” and I sure would love to steal away a minute with my husband/best friend to be reminded of that! Ahhh…just a moment in time would mean so much…
I would take my dad and bro after a day of fishing together
my favorite dinner memory was a very romantic dinner my husband and I were having during our engagement…we were talking about our future and children and I had called him “daddy” in the future tense, at the time of saying this I was looking down at my food (cutting it up 🙂 and when I looked up he was crying…I was totally baffled…what did I do? I asked him…”you called me Daddy, that is huge!” I was totally amazed, 4 children in under 5 years and 7 years of marriage later he is the best Daddy and husband in the world. 🙂
my wife needs a date! I am gone a lot working 6 days a week or more and she stays home with the kids full time and home schools them. and she will get a date if i win this or not but if I won it would mean she gets a nicer date plus flowers 🙂
clarification just so I dont sound cheap, my wife gets dates and flowers but not often together as we are on a tight budget.
I would love to take my husband out to Outback because I really am awful at cooking steak and let’s face it, we usually have deer steak to begin with, so the end result is not typically that great. We really haven’t been out to eat unless going through the drive-thru as our little one sleeps counts and we are expecting baby #2, so be able to go out for an evening before the next little one arrives would be so wonderful!